Section 12 Summary

Lines 89-92

Lo, body and soul—this land,
My own Manhattan with spires, and the sparkling and hurrying tides, and the ships,
The varied and ample land, the South and the North in the light, Ohio's shores and
flashing Missouri,
And ever the far-spreading prairies cover'd with grass and corn. 

• In line 89 we see the speaker blending these images of the land with the idea of a "body and soul." ("Lo," by the way, is an older way of saying, "behold.") So the speaker is encouraging body and soul to behold the vivacity and beauty of the land and man. With that dash, he's also making a connection between the land and the idea of a physical person with a body and soul.
• It turns out that this person might kick it in Manhattan. Here we have a more urban landscape that has its own beauty with "sparkling and hurrying tides" and ships. Now we have an even fuller picture of America's land and its varying pictures of beauty.
• Line 91 reminds us of America's variety, but this time hits closer to home in reference to the Civil War and the "South and the North," both of which are "in the light." Our speaker isn't taking sides here but is rather portraying both as part of America's "light."
• And those "far-spreading prairies" filled with grass and corn help to unify America's variety by providing a large platform of sustenance for the country as a whole. The prairies help to feed everyone, no matter if you're in the North, South, East, or West. Once again we're given the idea of the land's fertility, from Ohio to Missouri. Suffice it to say that we've pretty much swept the entire country at this point. 
• Sheesh, we hope our speaker had frequent flyer miles. 

Lines 93-95

Lo, the most excellent sun so calm and haughty,
The violet and purple morn with just-felt breezes,
The gentle soft-born measureless light,

• To complement the prairies that feed everyone, we have the sun which is "calm and haughty" (or stuck up). We can't really blame the sun. If we made all of life one Earth possible, we'd be pretty full of ourselves, too. "Haughty" can also mean aloof, or apart, which is actually pretty accurate when it comes to something that's 93 million miles away. All the same, this is some straight-up personification of the sun, which we're pretty sure doesn't have much of an attitude about anything. 
• And again we get more of that sense of unity here with the image of the sun that doesn't discriminate. It's calm because no matter man's newest conflict, the sun remains the same in a sort of absolute existence. It goes on, no matter what (at least for a few billion more years).
• Line 94 gives some more of that sensory imagery associated with touch this time. We can almost feel those gentle early morning breezes, see the purple sunrise. This scene is a nice counter-example to the sunset that we saw when the speaker was hanging photos in Lincoln's burial house.
• And with those breezes comes that complementary "soft-born," measureless light, which again gives the impression of the sun's seemingly infinite reach.
• At this point, we're noticing a lightening mood (literally) that's moved away from the evidence of grieving and has entered into a kind of consolation that alleviates (helps) humanity's suffering. We're being uplifted out of the darkness at this point, thanks to our eloquent speaker.

Lines 96-98

The miracle spreading bathing all, the fulfill'd noon,
The coming eve delicious, the welcome night and the stars,
Over my cities shining all, enveloping man and land.

• More miracles are in store for us here. The sun, that's depicted here as figuratively "spreading" over and "bathing" all things, remains the one constant in this section, as it ought to be. (What, have you noticed any differences in the sun lately?)
• No matter the varying land and people that we saw earlier, the sun is the one thing that can never be distinguished among other things. It's its own "thing," a miraculous thing at that.
• In line 97, the speaker welcomes the night in a way that sounds a bit different from the more elusive and ambiguous characteristics of night that we saw earlier with the orb. Here it's just plain "delicious" (mmm, night) and most welcomed. That might be because the night is bringing some stars to the party, to light everything up. By line 98, the speaker feels so unified with the land that he even calls the cities, "my cities." 
• So amid all the pain and darkness, we're reminded that light (be it from the sun or starts) still envelops (covers) all things.
• Therefore the world can never be that dark.