Motifs

The constant need to list things to me is like a motif within a motif, and this occurence is constantly repeated throughout the poem.

In vain the speeding or shyness,

In vain the plutonic rocks send their old heat against my approach,

In vain the mastadon retreats beneath its own powdered bones,

In vain objects stand leagues off and assume manifold shapes,

In vain the ocean settling in hollows and the great monsters lying low,

In vain the buzzard houses herself with the sky,

In vain the snake slides through the creepers and logs,

In vain the elk takes to the inner passes of the woods,

In vain the razorbilled auk sails far north to Labrador

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

Not one is dissatisfied . . . . not one is demented with the mania of owning things,

Not one kneels to another nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,

Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth.

In utilizing the approach of listing things through repetition, Whitman is able to capture a motif and really dig into it but at the same time extrapolate bigger ideas or images.  The first motif starts " in vain the speeding or shyness"... and the last line ends "in vain the razorbilled auk sails far north to Labrador".  These are two unlike things that are given equal weight and significance because they're in a list.  Another thing I like about the list is simply the way it brings together a bunch of images by having two or three words like in the above example "in vain" and "they do not".  Much of the poem is written in such a way that jumps around as if there are gaps making it difficult to follow, at least for me, so the list is a solid place to stop and think out where is the poem headed now.  The second example does a good job in clarifying the bigger point that the poet is attempting to make.  "They do not" is referring to the animals which the speaker observes for "half the day long".  This motif expresses an indirect mistrust upon people because obviously people are the one's who "whine about their condition" "weep for their sins" make other people sick by ranting about "their duty to God"...  In this context it is the animals who are peaceful and equal, and when animals are not eating, they loaf all day long, which seems to be what Whitman enjoys most.  I'm sure Whitman would not want to be anything or anyone else but himself, yet he aspires to a greater good only found in nature.  He's susceptible to seeing equality in nature, but can he do the same for society?  To me it seems like he does have faith in democracy as the only system to offer and support equality based on individual rights despite the slave problem at the time he composed this poem.