This poem expresses the poet's identification of his consciousness with all objects and forms, and the list of things which he himself identifies with is large and comprehensive and is a good example of Whitman's catalogs. The continual process of becoming is at the heart of the poem. We become something or grow into something and this is the process of becoming, of change and development. The interpenetration of the child's consciousness and physical phenomena, as shown in this poem, is one of the essential elements of Whitman's thought.