In the first edition of "I Sing the Body Electric" by Walt Whitman, the use of parallelism adds emphasis to his tone of obsession but reverence towards the human body. Through these rhetorical devices, Whitman implies his true thoughts upon the corruption of our bodies through societal influence. In the first edition, he quite often connects contradictory concepts regarding their importance and equality through parallelism. Because of the extensive use of parallelism in the first section, Whitman is able to rapidly change moods without interrupting the flow of the poem.

The first section displays a passionate tone, but the tone of the second section is much more reverent and respectful towards the human body. Although the first edition and deathbed edition are written among the same lines and share some similarities, they both are highly contrasting forms of the same poem. Instead of parallelism, the deathbed edition incorporates...