The Mystery of the Floating Passage

While reading “A Song for Occupations” I have discovered, through no small amount of deductive reasoning, that the passage beginning with, “When the psalm sings instead of the singer,” and ending with, “Of them as I do of men and women like you,” moves twice. By no small amount of deductive reasoning I mean to say I read the various poems, and discovered that in the 1860 and 67 versions it has been moved from the end to near the end of the poem after the lines, “Leaves are not more shed from the trees, or trees from/ the earth, than they are shed out of you.” Then they are moved again, in the 1881 and 91 versions, back to their original positions except this time they succeed the lines, “You workwomen and workmen of these States having your own/ divine and strong life,/ And all else giving place to men and women like you.”
Why might these lines change? What is Whitman’s reason for confusing his future readers who are going over his poems? Well every preceding line to the passage is somewhat similar to the original order from 1855, “All I love America for, is contained in men and/ women like you.” The men and women he is referring to are the laborers it is a: song, carol, chant for occupations. In one way or another Whitman is admiring the working man and woman. He says they are America, or that the world is there’s and sheds its “leaves” on our their behalf, or the “States” have given them a wonderful place to live and work. Whitman sticks to that theme the idea of work and labor representing the democratic. He renames it “Chants Democratic” to further the idea that the laborer makes the democratic system. The President “Is up there in the White House for you… it is not you who are/ here for him,” throughout the poem he speaks to the laborer reminding him and her that they are all equal, and that they are the ones with power in a democracy. Still what has this got to do with the mystery of the floating passage.
Upon closer look at the passage it is one of Whitman’s famous, infamous, lists of things. These are objects replacing the laborer. For instance, “when the psalm sings instead of the singer,” Whitman says he will, “intend to reach them my hand, and make as much of/ Of them as I do of men and women like you.” Of course it’s pretty much impossible for all of these objects to actually perform any sort of task. They don’t provide the warmth, strength, or skill needed to produce themselves, but they are important to the community nonetheless. In earlier versions Whitman leaves us with a rather open ended reading of this final passage. It is up to us to decipher his secret code. Later on though he follows up by explaining himself a little more by following up with, “The sum of all known reverence I add up in you,/ whoever you are;/ The President is there in the White House for you.” But he puts it back again as though he realized he’s not singing to idiots. This all returns to the title in some way. Every time the title is changed it carries with it the significance of song. He calls it “Chants Democratic,” “To Workingmen,” then “Carol of Occupations,” and then back again to “A Song for Occupations.” He starts with song as that is what many people do when they work. They whistle, or sing, or chant, or hum it helps the work go by. He strays from that for a bit but returns, just as he returns to the passage at the end, because song is something that connects. The laborer is strong in force, and he or she is only in force when he is bound together with a common goal. Whether that worker is a preacher or blacksmith they are all working towards the advancement of America.