Authors give human qualities to non-human objects in a technique called personification. This type of figurative language sets the mood and helps the reader relate new material to something he already knows. In "Reconciliation," Whitman marvels "That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly softly/wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world." He personifies death and night, two elements that are not human, and he gives them the very human activity of washing the soiled world. The repetition of "again" also helps the reader to see that even death and night cannot get rid of the dirt and mess humans have created on the earth.
Comparisons of unlike objects, known as metaphors, are important figures of speech. Specific metaphors, comparisons that use "like" or "as," are called similes; they offer a clearer understanding in poetry. Whitman writes, "WORD over all, beautiful as the sky!" The word he refers to is also the title of the poem, which immediately precedes this line: reconciliation. Whitman is comparing reconciliation, or a coming back together, with the beauty of the sky. This comparison shows the vastness and the intricacies of the beauty of reconciliation.
A symbol is something that exists in its own right in a poem, but also represents something else. Whitman writes, "I bend down, and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin." Whitman is expressing his opinions on war, and how reconciliation is the better tactic. By using the image of the white face in the coffin, Whitman has the speaker see a reflection of himself, which shows that even the enemy is a person too. Colors are also symbolic. The use of white connotes a positive image, which is why the association is so interesting. We would not usually associate "white" with the enemy, but in a poem about reconciliation we can.
When an author uses sensory details to help the reader feel like he is experiencing everything completely, it is called imagery. Imagery invokes the five senses and helps the reader to see, taste, touch, hear and smell the scene being depicted. When Whitman explains, "Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost," he is setting the scene with vivid sight words and playing with the association of "beautiful" and "carnage," two words that do not usually go together. He also creates a picturesque moment when the speaker says, "I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin." The stark words help the reader to see what the narrator is seeing.