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1. What foreshadowing is exhibited in Section 1 of the poem? How is the universal “I” set up in this section?

The opening lines of the poem prepare the reader for what lies ahead: "I celebrate myself, and sing myself, / And what I assume you shall assume, / For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." This introduces the universal "I," sets the celebratory tone, and foreshadows the themes of equality, nature, and goodness.

2. What is signified by these lines from Section 1: “I loafe and invite my soul, / I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass”?

In this section, the poet is equating the natural ease and comfort with which the "I" observes a blade of grass to communing with the soul. As Whitman the man is born of the earth and the air, Whitman the poet is emerging as himself, as the poem itself, in these very lines.

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