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

style poem meant to disrupt everyone's lives, just like the effects of a war. Wilfred Owens poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” although, not the easiest to read, struggles with the common issue, in a information saturated society we are desensitized to one very important fact, people are dying. In spite of the fact that Walt Whitman died one year before Wilfred Owens was born and they were from different counties they both share the theme of the destruction of war, on property, countries, and most of all human lives. Not unlike most great poetry, these poems have meaning for more then just one historical moment.
Starting with Walt Whitman's Powerful and commanding poem “Beat! Beat! Drums!”, the poet or narrator orders instruments to "Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! Blow!" to play so loudly that the sound burst through doors and windows of homes where families live, the churches were the god fearing people are scattered, schools where innocent kids are learning, honeymoon suites where newly weds are looking for some privacy and even the farmers quiet land where he works hard shall not be unabashed with the sounds of these drums and bugles that are bringing attention and disruption to even the most peaceful and innocent people.
As if on repeat, the poet again urges the drums and bugles to play louder. In the second stanza, he urges the instruments to play even louder then the cities traffic and noise pollution, crashing into the quiet beds of the people. The music should keep people from sleep at night, and distract them from their work in the daytime. They should drown out the sounds of shoppers, singers, and conversations, even drowning out a lawyers pleading case during trial. The drums and bugles should become so fierce that they disrupt daily life for everyone in the farms, the suburbs, and the inner cities.
Suggestively poignant, our speaker again for the third time urges the sounds of rhythmic cadence to play powerfully, this time specifying that it should not stop for any conversation or explanation. No if, ands, or, buts! Do not weaken for the soft spoken innocence or the weeping and mourning or those whom pray for the soul. The speaker now seemingly yelling, commands the ever closer ever louder cadence to recruit men into the army, regardless of what their kids, siblings or mothers feel. Finally, he urges the instruments to shake even the caskets that support the dead. "Beat! beat! drums!- Blow! bugles! blow!" by Walt Whitman is a poem that not only endorses action but demands it, it contains a call to action: there is a war, and it affects everyone.
Wilfred Owens poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” has a sense of ownership and experience to it.

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

blood from what must be the fog of enemy gas.
The speaker explains in all of his dreams he sees the young man dying, over and over in great detail, he just can't get the sight of his dying comrade out of his head and he want the reader to feel and see the same. He addresses a friend with the tone of warning or angst that if they knew, what was really happening in war, they would not be so quick to convince children lacking understanding and seeking glory to join the war. Owens ends the poem the way he started it with the full quote that inspired so many to join the cause. The Latin quotation at the end of the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. Which roughly means, It is sweet and glorious to die for one's country.
Walt Whitman's commanding poem “Beat! Beat! Drums!” is made up of three stanzas with seven lines each. “Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!” is repeated at the beginning of every stanza, which gives it order, like the march songs used to influence moral and order in an military march. Because of this repeating rhythm without even mentioning the word soldiers, or war the reader feels or hears the short, repeated sound of drums beating and bugles blowing .
Whitman wrote this poem during the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. The drums and bugles are symbols of the war itself (during this time drums and bugles were used to signal the beginning of a battle). The speaker commands the instruments to play so loudly that they disrupt everyone's lives, just like war disrupts the lives of those not directly involved in the war. No where did this ring more true then the the Civil War, as all the soldiers were American and all the battles took place at home. The war mandated everything that happened. In this poem, Whitman repeats them and wont let you tune out the drums and bugles because you can not simply tune out the war, it will effect you and its your duty to act.
The most obvious figure of speech Whitman used in this poem is onomatopoeia, found when he describes the instruments, using words like whir(r), thump, and pound. He makes the instruments come to life as you read, the reader is drawn in and can almost hear the instruments outside of the poem. This figure of speak is used so well that as you read, you can hear the drums more and more intensely the more he repeats the line “Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!”, as if there were a battle cry right outside your door. It invokes a sense of danger and urgency, yet again cementing the call to action or awareness Whitman wanted.
During the ending of the poem you feel the urgency and closeness of the drums and bugles while you are also faced with the graphic images of the dead shrouded in the open awaiting a hearse. We all understand the important to respect the dead, as you pull off the road onto the shoulder to be respectful of a hearse driving by or during fun conversation you see a folded flag being handed over to a crying mother, you automatically lower your voice. Whitman uses that natural human reaction to death to implore images of large military cemeteries, mass graves and decay to lead to the end result of war, win or lose people die, everybody is effected.
Wilfred Owen's macabre poem “Dulce et Decorum est” is a visually driven piece of art with its vibrant imagery and piercing tone.

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.

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In the fourth and last stanza Owen takes the reader away from the action and uses this time to keenly and piercingly criticize those who rally young men and encourage them to go to war seeking glory. Owens is not against the war, he fought in it. He describes a very vivid picture of the dying young boy, he shares personal vivid experiences to show just how bad it really was, "obscene as cancer". The dying boy symbolizes the dying of innocence and purity. Finally ending where he started,
“Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori” roughly translates to “It is sweet and glorious to die for one's country”. Owen is wanting those without true war experience to understand what they are setting young men up for when they sugar coat and sell dreams of enlisting for glory and legends. War is Like Cancer and Death. Nobody wins.