Walt Whitman was a man challenging and pushing boundaries of his time. This poem is directly mirroring the current state of America at the time. In his first stanza, Walt Whitman questions the future and what is to come. This can be seen as a theme in America at a time of civil war and unrest, along with uncertainty. He then moves on to the importance of speaking the truth. This can be mirrored in America at the time, where we had to face our faults and be real to ourselves. Then Whitman moves on to perhaps the most important piece of the era, “(I am large, I contain multitudes.)” This is directly in reference to the state of America at the time. The United States has grown large enough to encompass contradictions and multitudes, simultaneously. Where contradiction usually resembles conflict, Whitman views it with optimism and harmony. This is an introduction to multiple themes later in the postmodernist era.