Analysis Of Walt Whitman's Poem 'Beat ! Drums'

Destruction of Innocent Lives

Many poems have been written during times of War, from the Civil War to World War II, many were pro-war and still just as many, if not more, were anti-war. When you look back in time, you may notice and recognize a few authors for their contributions to our colorful country's history from your studies, but two names are almost always recognized, even by the unstudied, to have offhandedly advanced our culture, changed politics, and even confronted the impact of war on communities and families in two different countries. Walt Whitman is often recognized as the founding father of American poetry, his powerful poem “Beat! Beat! Drums!” written during the start of the Civil War in 1861, is a commanding and rugged

Starting with very visual stimuli, men bent over like old beggars carrying sacks, tired and numb from the experiences they have lived through. They are no longer men but just hollowed out shells of their former glory as they curse and cough through the mud until the "haunting flares" tell them it is time to head toward safety for rest. The flares are haunting because they give away their location with a soft glow as well as being a beacon hope for end shift. As they march, and dig and pull each leg from the mud to place it in front of the other, all men march in their sleep, others limp with bloody feet as they have lost their boots in the thick blood colored mud. All are lame and blind, extremely tired. They have become desensitized and deaf to the shells falling behind them. Then it gets worse. Just as the men are turning around headed to distant camp for the night, gas shells drop behind them blocking the way home. The speaker yells out like a commander “Gas! Gas! Quick, Boys!” The soldiers scramble for their gas masks in a frantic but awakening moment to save their lives. They don't all get their clumsy helmets on in time. Our speaker watches as a member of his crew chokes and staggers in the toxic fumes, unable to save him from an excruciating certain death. Even through the thick glass eyelets of the helmet and the fog of gas he can see the young man drowning in vomit bile and

The poem is a combination of two sonnets. In the first sonnet, Owen uses present tense, as if we the reader are there to see it with him. Placing the reader and himself with the other soldiers as they walk, crawl and fight through the mud and grime of the battlefield. He views them as "beggars". They have lost the image of humanity. They are wore out and desensitized to everything except their orders. In the second stanza the action happens, we read/see poisonous gas force the men to put their helmets on. Owens focuses on one unlucky young man that was not fast enough to get his mask on and see's him “Drowning” and reaching for help, it was too late as the gas tears at his flesh and lungs. Owens uses metaphor and simile to invoke a dreamlike image, “Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,” and “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.” Comparison of the mist of green gas to a sea contains the simile, And the clever metaphor is found when he compares the gas victim to a victim of drowning in a sea.