Fallen Soldiers Roughly 2% of the population, an estimated 620,000 men, lost their lives in the American Civil War. The Civil War is often known as the bloodiest war in American history. Walt Whitman, a revolutionary poet, wrote many poems about America and the Civil War was no exception. He wrote the poem “Ashes of Soldiers” as the war was reaching its end. All lives lost during the civil war matter, no matter what side they are on. Whitman pays tribute to all the soldiers who died fighting in the Civil War. The speaker begins by addressing all the dead soldiers from the North and the South. Suddenly, soldiers ghosts’ rise from their graves and crowd around him. He requests that the trumpeters make no noise and refrain from playing. He …show more content…
Whitman uses free verse in almost all of his poems. His use of free verse is evident in these lines from his poem “Faces so pale with wondrous eyes, very dear, gathered closer yet, / Draw, close but speak not.” (Whitman 1). Whitman’s use of free verse allows the poem to feel more personal and natural. He continues to use free verse all throughout the poem and it is never abandoned. He also tends to use parallelism in his poems. Whitman describes the scene, as ghosts are emerging “ From their graves in the trenches ascending, / From cemeteries all through Virginia and Tennessee, / From every point of the compass out of the countless graves,” (Whitman 1). His use of parallelism reinforces the idea that everyone, no matter which side, is remembered. Whitman uses parallelism in most of the stanzas in the poem, so it is never abandoned. Whitman is also known for his unique vocabulary and slang. Whitman promises the dead soldiers that he will “exhale love from [him] wherever I go like a moist perennial / dew,“ By using words like dew, he is signifying that everyday he will have love for them. Whitman uses a unique style of poetry to get his point …show more content…
The poem opens with the line “ Ashes of soldiers North or South” (Whitman 1). Whitman is trying to express the idea that whether it be a Union soldier or a southern one, their lives mattered. He cares for the soldiers, since he was a nurse during the Civil War. Whitman volunteered during the war and as a “private man tending the wounded in the hospital wards” (Whitman 1). Since he was a caretaker during the war, Whitman had compassion for their lives and all their bravery. He realizes that these deceased soldiers are now voiceless and decides to “chant this chant of my silent soul in the name of all dead / soldiers.” (Whitman 1). Since the soldiers are no longer alive, Whitman takes it upon himself to be the voice. Whitman pays respect to soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy
The Civil War had more deaths than all previous wars combined. Most people think those soldiers in the Civil War died of wounds or amputations, but the truth is that most died from common diseases that they never had been exposed to. Twice as many soldiers died from diseases than those soldiers who died in battle.
A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak and Grim written by Walt Whitman, an american poet focuses on a soldier walking through the hospital tent at camp. The soldier examines three deceased soldiers, one old, one young and one who is not young nor old. The poem was written during the Civil War and thus the setting of the poem is a campsite in the Civil War. Although a recognized American poet, essayist, and journalist Walt Whitman had little to no formal education, this however proved to be a defining characteristic in his work. This short poem seems to be simple and straight to the point but it actually lends itself to a deeper meaning.
“Come Up From the Fields, Father” vividly describes the colors of the trees during harvest. Whitman even asks if his readers can smell “the buckwheat where the bees were lately buzzing” (Whitman 86)? By asking questions with his word choice, Whitman triggers the sense of sound and smell. Once Whitman paints a clear picture of the setting, he creates a suspenseful feeling within the characters. The mother is called to read the letter from her son. Whitman mirrors suspense in the mother by describing her movements as trembling, and not caring enough to smooth her hair. He then delivers the news, that he has held his readers in suspense for, the family's only son is dead. The news is given blatantly but the information of death still evokes strong emotion. Whitman does not leave the pain there; he creates a startling picture of the mother’s depression after her loss. Her depression is dotted with untouched meals, fitful nights, weeping, and longing. The poem even hints at her depression turning suicidal as stated, “O that she might withdraw unnoticed, silent from life escape and withdraw/ To follow, to seek, to be with her dead son. (Whitman 86)” Using a vivid word selection, Whitman clearly tells of the agony families’ endured during the civil war
“It is well that war is so terrible, or we would grow too fond of it.” Robert E. Lee (Tindall 716). The Civil War was a fight for the people, a war of the people, and was a surprise to people about the outcome of the long winded battle. This war, being the bloodiest battle in American history, effected the lives of every American alive at this time (Civil War 1). Issues of expansion, states rights, and Abraham Lincoln - a Republican- winning the election of 1860 were the major causes of this brutal war, with slavery playing a major role in all causes (Feature 1). Beginning in 1861 and ending in 1865, being the longest battle fought in America up to this time, ended with approximately 620,000 dead, multiple wounded, and others scared for life (Civil War 1). “No tongue can tell, no mind conceives, no pen portray the horrible sights I witnessed this morning” a Pennsylvania Soldier (Tindall 716).
There were so many injuries of the Civil War which were extremely tragic but Whitman took everything in a positive and beautiful way. I examined one narrative in particular titled Back to Washington which was very significant and portrayed an image to the audience without having to actually be there. In my perspective, Back to Washington illustrates what Whitman thought was the greatest injury of the Civil War. The loss of humanity was definitely portrayed in this narrative.
Throughout the poem, there is repetition of the line “I am the man, I suffer'd, I was there, ” to emphasize his empathy. He also includes alliteration such as “rent roofs” and powerful imagery like “the long roil of the drummers” to liven the poem. Additionally, he helps the reader experience the events in the poem by using similes to compare the challenges to things that the reader has experienced. One line reads, “The twinges that sting like needles his legs and neck”. In the poem, Whitman becomes the heroes, but by incorporating the literary devices, Whitman allows the reader to experience the same experience as the heroes as
To begin with, both Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson spoke about not only a person dying, but the people who were left to live through that person’s death. Whitman aims his attention on the people who have to suffer through the death of a loved one and says that the one who dies no longer has to suffer. “Sickly white in the face, and dull in the head, very faint/ By the jamb of a door leans […]/ But the mother needs to be better; / She, with thin form, presently drest in black; / By day her meals untouch'd-then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking, / In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing, / O that she might withdraw unnoticed-silent from life, escape and withdraw, / To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son” (Whitman “Come Up From the Fields Father” Lines 24-25, 32-37). At first the thought of the son being dead is kind of shocking to the mother, but as time passes and the fact that her son is dead starts to sink in, the mother becomes very unhealthy. She changes in every way in that she goes from a happy, normal mother and wife, to this depressed woman who only wears black and hopes to die soon so she can be wi...
The story describes a morbid situation of a dead father and son, but Whitman tries to describe everything around them as beautiful. One might imagine Whitman 's struggling with his emotions, trying to find the beauty of the world in this story. He sets the story by describing the sunset as “beautiful” and the ascending moon as “immense and silent” as if the story will be one of peace. Then as the poem continues, the sounds of drums are “convulsive” and the ‘pavement has faded’ as if Whitman is losing heart. Stories of death are tragic, but the fact that the two decided are father add son is heartbreaking. In the second to last stanza, the surge of emotion is evident. “O strong dead-march!” the tone of this is anguish, Whitman is in agony of this funeral procession and is crying out in thanksgiving for his own life as well as the “veterans, passing to burial”. The emotional drama shown here is the beauty of the world is the wretchedness of the
One line in this poem that describes the belief of an afterlife in the line about meeting again is the line, “I think we shall surely meet again,” (17-18). Walt Whitman is saying this after the solider has died and he believes that he and the comrade will meet again in death because he believes that death is not the end of eternal life. Walt Whitman also writes of death more realistically than Emily Dickinson even though his take on death is impersonal due to it being about the soldier’s death and not imagining his own death like Emily Dickinson. He describes death as he is mourning someone else’s death. He also seems to regret that grief of the death with the line, “But not a tear fell, not even a long-drawn sigh, long, long, I gazed,” (11). He is use to deaths by know because of the war. The Next poem by Walt Whitman that shows aspects of death is A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and
Whitman uses the absence of the soldiers as a way to emphasize how those who fought for the country are forgotten and not remembered as the heroes that they are. The poem talks of gathering all of the dead soldiers around him, all of the forgotten and selfless who have received no glory or fame from their sacrifice. Whitman states that the men are “Unseen by the rest and voiceless,” which very accurately depicts the situation that the soldiers were in (599). These men had given their lives for the country and had received no recognition for what they had done, causing turmoil to Whitman because he believed that they deserved more than that, claiming that he wrote this poem in order to tribute it “In the name of all dead soldiers,” (599). The experiences that Whitman went through, watching many different soldiers die, seeing his brother unable to help himself, all influenced the way that Whitman looked at the war and the soldiers of the war. When Whitman describes anything about the soldiers, he consistently mentions the absence of them talking about them as “Phantoms of countless lost,” instead of as a soldier or ghost they are memorialized within Whitman’s poem as the absence of a person (599). Although Whitman intended to give the soldiers of the Civil War a voice, he also felt the need to pay homage in a
The stanza reads as follows: “Sold are those arms which once on Britons blazed, When, flushed with conquest, to the charge they came; That power repelled, and Freedom’s fabrick raised, She leaves her soldier – famine and a name!” (13-16). Utilizing a direct example again, this final stanza translates into an example of pathos. He describes of when the British troops came firing, the American soldiers fought back and repelled their forces. America raised her great flag of freedom, but left her soldiers (who fought valiantly) to poverty and famine. Poetry is not just a means of rhythmic wording – it is an emotional appeal for the argument or claim of the
With Whitman using his style of free-verse in can quite cause the works to be disorganized. His use of repetition often comes into play by him repeat to use the same phrase or word four times. Whitman’s works take on the idea of the human body and sexuality which may scare off some readers. He brings in the idea of worshipping both Men and Women bodies, so with in comparison to Dickinson, Whitman work differs in style due to him not make his stories go dark like Dickinson traditionally does with her works.
Walt Whitman was arguable one of the most influential poets during the Civil War era. Though never directly involved in war, Whitman was able to talk about the war in a more insightful way than many poets at the time could. Whitman was most active in writing during the times before and after the war, choosing to dedicate himself to helping wounded soldiers during the war instead. Walt Whitman’s poetry reflects the progression of his philosophy of America: his initial view of America was uplifting, represented in his Pre-Civil war poems and while the Civil War poetry presents the degradation of American society, Whitman’s final poetry returns to a realistic, optimistic view for America.
The poem has set a certain theme and tone but no definite rhyme. In this poem, the poet explores into a thought of the self, the all-encompassing "I," sexuality, democracy, the human body, and what it means to live in the modern world. He addresses that the human body is sacred and every individual human is divine. Hence, Whitman was known for writing poems about individualism, democracy, nature, and war.
...n, metaphors and imagery to memorialize the fallen captain, Abraham Lincoln and to give him the proper praise for his work for the United States. Tennyson’s subject is preparing for the end of his time, which is demonstrated through word choice and imagery. Through the use of literary devices, one can see the true similarities between the two poems, as both discuss death related topics through nautical metaphors, but also highlight the true differences in themes and meanings between Whitman and Tennyson’s poems.