1. What images of sight, touch, and sound in this poem are most vivid to you?
2. In the five stanzas of this poem, the speaker observes and participates in five American scenes. Look at the summaries you made while reading, and describe the scene in each stanza. What feelings did each scene evoke?
3. Whitman changes the tone of this poem when he describes the fourth and fifth scenes. Identify the tone of the first three scenes. What is the tone of the last two scenes? What effect do you think the poet hoped to create by changing the tone?
5. In the last scene, the "runaway slave" is one of thousands who entrusted their lives to those who would help them escape. What do you think the stanza-especially the last line-shows about the speaker's relationship with his guest?