Connections from Whitman

This poem is about how Whitman thinks that things during childhood shape who one becomes in their later years.  The entire poem talks about things that happen to people during life because he wants to connect with them  through his writing.  He covers topics from drunken fathers to mothers placing dishes on the dinner table, preparing for dinner.  He tries to cover all of these topics because he wants this poem to relate to the reader's life and the poem then becomes personal.  He is saying everything that happens during a person's childhood, good or bad, affects who the person becomes in their life.