The Nature of Sex

In "I Sing the Body Electric" Whitman states that he sees his soul reflected in Nature. I believe that is what this passage is about. The language that he use is obviously sexually, yet I think that the human mind is so programmed to read "sex" into anything that alludes to pressing with "a slow rude muscle" that we are overlooking the obvious. Sex and the bond two people share, especially that of a male and female, is one of the most natural things on the world. If sex and relationships are suppose to be an intrical part of our being and soul, there is no better way for Nature to be reflected than in the relations that are to be shared.
The theme of this passage, as well as other works we have read by Whitman, revolve around taking a very introspective look at who we are as humans collectively as well as men and women. Whitman is a sentimentalist in every sense of the word. He analyzes humans for who they are and what they can do as human beings, not simply males or females. He conveys his ideas in an emotional and aesthetic manner. I believe this passage to be very consistent with him and his work. Whitman expresses a closeness he feels with Nature and basically all things in general. We see this in Songs of Myself with his perspective on the world and the components that affect him directly and indorectly. We see this in I sing the Body Electric with the praising he does of the human form and the roles that it ensues during life. And we see this in Calamus in his discussion of the bond that comrades share, for he loves them as much as he loves himself.
Whitman seems to love human beings as a form and appreicates their functions respectively. Although he may have felt disdain for women, he certainly seems to somehow express the same respect he has for the male form as he does the female.