As I Ebb'd With the Ocean of Life Identity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Line)

Quote #4

But that before all my arrogant poems the real Me stands yet untouch'd, untold, altogether unreach'd, (28)

Who is the "real" you? Is it the one that walks and talks to other people, or the one that no one has seen? In this line, the speaker is having trouble reconciling the two sides of himself. He even thinks of his poems as "arrogant." Fortunately for him, there seems to be a "real" self out there waiting, "untouched." The trick is just figuring out how to find it.

Quote #5

I mean tenderly by you and all,
I gather for myself and for this phantom looking down where we lead, and following me and mine. (55-56)

Here, the speaker is not only unified with himself, but with all of us, even with the "phantom" who looks down on us from above. He gathers all this sentiment of unity for all of us, and shares it in the poem. And he does so "tenderly." The tone of existential despair and isolation has given way to peace, here, as the speaker finds his true identity by considering how united we all are.