Comments by Section

There are 175 comments in this document
In this poem, Whitman expresses his desire to touch people with his work. He compares his poetry (or songs as he calls them here) to undecorated tree branches: they are "scaly and bare" because they have yet to reach people. He feels as though something needs to happen to make his bare branches flower and bear fruit so that people will be moved by what he has produced. haply: by chance; accidentally verdant: a very poetic, classical word for green.