America can be seen, blatantly, through the setting of the poem, which is Paumanok, or the Indian name for Long Island. More subtly, however, it can be seem through symbolism in the sea debris that washes up on the shores of Long Island. Whitman lists a variety of things, such as "chaff, straw, splinters of wood, weeds," and other things that wash up on beaches (Whitman). Since he also calls the ocean, "ocean of life," we can then see the sea debris as people who have left the ocean of life, or rather, have died (Whitman). However, they are ordinary things to find in the ocean, and since Whitman liked to celebrate ordinary people, we can assume this sea debris is collectively Americans (even if they are dead.)
This also ties into the idea of the Everyman. This sea debris that gets washed up is all in a line across the beach, matching the curves of the waves that brought it there (Whitman). By extension, all this sea debris is connected, much as the Everyman idea states that everyone is connected. So by seeing the sea debris as people, the Everyman concept is also covered in this poem.
The third concept, Christianity, is a little trickier to find in this poem. However, stanzas 23 and 24 talks about a "father" person, and taking into consideration the titles of God in the Holy Trinity (as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), we can tie this back to Christianity, especially since the speaker talks about wanting the father to hold him, much like the shore holds the lost and dead pieces of drift, and also much like Christianity says that God holds us when we go to heaven (Whitman). Therefore, Long Island can be seen as the afterlife of the ocean of life, and also as God, successfully applying all three of Whitman's signature ideas.
While this is only the small piece of the puzzle that is "Bardic Symbols," there are many other facets of it that could be analyzed. It is a lot to think about, as Williams Dean Howells shows in his contemporary review of the poem. He expresses clear and utter confusion over the poem, stating that "no one, even after the fourth or fifth reading, can pretend to say what the 'Bardic Symbols' symbolize" (Howells 2). If that doesn't show confusion, I don't know what does.
Works Cited
Howells, William Dean. ""Bardic Symbols"" Rev. of Bardic Symbols. The Daily Ohio State Journal 28 Mar. 1860: 2. The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 03 Mar. 2011.
Whitman, Walt. "Bardic Symbols." Leaves of Grass. The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. http://whitmanarchive.org.
