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To be in any form, what is that?
(Round and round we go, all of us, and ever come back thither,)
If nothing lay more develop’d the quahaug in its callous shell were enough.
Mine is no callous shell,
I have instant conductors all over me whether I pass or stop,
They seize every object and lead it harmlessly through me.
I merely stir, press, feel with my fingers, and am happy,
To touch my person to some one else’s is about as much as I can stand.
EXPLANATION WITH CRITICAL ANALYSIS
To be in any form, what is that? (Round and round we go all of us and ever come back thithes).
These lines suggest that the physical form no matter in any form, should not be given any importance. It is the soul that is significant and immortal. It has a cyclic feature. It has neither beginning nor an end. It has entrances and exits from the World.
SUMMARY AND CRITICAL APPRECIATION
The poet says that the physical form in any shape does not have much significance. It is the soul that matters greatly. He affirms that the immortal soul has a cyclic feature. It has neither a beginning nor an end. It traverses the universe, sometimes free and sometimes wrapped in physical forms. A man should never be a quahaug according to Whitman. He gives his own example. He says:
Mine is no callous shell,I have instant conductors all over me whether I pass or stopThey seize every object and lead it harmlessly through me.
He considers himself a very sensitive human-being. He gets thrilled at the very touch of someone else. He is unlike the quahaug. The quahaug with a thick shell can never be sensitive to any form of touch. The poet compares his own body to a conductor. A conductor transmits heat and electricity immediately; similarly his body is like the body electric, sensitive to external stimulus. The sensations resulting from this stimulus sends sparks of joy throughout his body. The poet enjoys it. The section exhibits Whitman as a very sensitive person. He shows that a human being is a human being only when he is alive to the existing conditions in the world. If the factors in the outside world do not have any impact on the human being then he is similar to the insensitive quahaug. He says one must definitely have the sense to ‘feel’, only then can he enjoy his sojourn on this Earth.