# Reconciliation explained — Leaves of Grass

> Chapter companion for Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

## What happens

A meditation on the aftermath of war, where the speaker finds beauty in the eventual loss of all carnage and embraces a former enemy as a divine equal, culminating in a tender kiss of reconciliation.

## Themes in this chapter

### Comradeship and Love

The speaker's kiss to the dead enemy transcends hatred, embodying a profound love for a fellow divine being.

### Death and Immortality

Death is portrayed as a cleansing force, and the enemy is recognized as 'divine,' suggesting an immortal equality.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The speaker who reflects on war's end and performs the act of reconciliation.

### Death

Personified as a sister alongside Night, softly washing the world clean.

## Key lines

> Word over all, beautiful as the sky, Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost

A supreme truth, lovely as the heavens, is that war and its violent acts will eventually fade completely.

_Sets the tone of ultimate peace and transcendence over conflict._

> For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead, I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin—I draw near, Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.

My former enemy, equally sacred as I, has died; I approach his pale corpse and gently kiss his face.

_Climactic act of reconciliation, affirming shared divinity and humanity._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/reconciliation
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters