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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_I
This poem is a eulogy for Wilhelm I of Germany, the first Emperor of what was then the fledgling German empire. It was composed on March 10, 1888, the day after Wilhelm I died. Columbia: the female personification of America. In this context, Whitman suggests that all of America is mourning the loss of Wilhelm I. salt sea: could be the many oceans that separate Germany from the various nations that look up to it, or it could mean the tears people are shedding over the loss.