Civil War historian Mark Neely claims that: "what…does not appear [in Whitman’s writing] is the Emancipation Proclamation....There would never be much trace of the proclamation in Whitman's works because he did not much care about it. For him the Civil War was not a war of liberation. It was a war for Union. Whitman was a mystical nationalist. And his big mistake was to depict Abraham Lincoln as a mystical nationalist too."
Just as the drum rhythm affects the poem and all of the people mentioned in it, the Civil War would affect everyone and everything that it touched in the United States. Whitman is trying to call everyone's attention to the war, and pay attention, to see the war for what it really is. Of course, no one can just ignore the war, it even awakens the sleeping and reverberates in the ears of the dead. The drums are enthusiastic supporters of the war, who encourage the population to be excited about the war and to join in the war efforts. All of the people hear this war cry and many respond positively, getting caught up in the excitement of the moment. The sounds "scatter the congregation" (which is not a positive image) and disturb the bridegroom, the farmer, the city traffic, the sleepers, the talkers, the singers, and the lawyers. All these people hear the war cry, but the timid, the old, the children, and the mothers do not react positively to the call. The poet exhorts the drums and bugles to drown their dissenting voices. The poet exhorts the drums and bugles to drown their dissenting voices. He uses words such as "scatter", "beseeching," "entreaties," and "prayer" to describe the actions and feelings of these characters. I see this as Whitman being very sarcastic, taking the voice of the war supporters and showing the flaws in their enthusiasm.
The poet is showing to his reader the spontaneous reaction of the Northern people directly following the South’s attack on Fort Sumter, and his analysis of it.The drumbeat is a symbol of war and it creates highly passionate, ardent responses from the townspeople described. The imagery brought to mind by this fast paced enthusiastic movement is that of a town, dancing and cheering their way to sign up for a war which has drawn them in by deceitful means, by the pressure of the drumbeats. Whitman is also communicating to the drums, which I see as those enthusiasts of the war, that war tears apart nations, not builds them. War leaves "no happiness" and is a "wild", "shrill", "fierce", and "terrible" entity. The war, Whitman tells us in the first
stanza, takes away things which it does not replace. The congregations are scattered, the scholar is taken from his study, peace and happiness are taken from the farmer and newlyweds, respectfully. The drumbeat is a symbol of war and it creates highly passionate, even extremist responses This is a beautiful poem which decries a torn nation and speaks a message of peace and the emptiness of war that holds true not only to its own era but also to future generations.
I think that Whitman is addressing unity here, the false unity that the war promises. The townspeople are unified in their efforts in the war, but it is NOT implied that their efforts are worthwhile or good in any way. In fact, the people are torn from the good things in their life, deceived by the musical tone of the drums into believing the promise of unity through destruction . Whitman is pointing this out and showing that war is not the best way to look for unity, since it tears apart the very people wishing to create peace.
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I agree that the drums and bugles are symbolic of war; and like their sound, war is a “ruthless force” that disrupts the lives of the townspeople. I also see the sarcasm that Whitman incorporates into the poem to show that he views the war as a terrible, disruptive force in the lives of the people. Some people are joining in on the war effort but not everyone. One line of the poem states “mind not the old man beseeching the young man;” one can imagine that the young man wants to become a soldier of the war, and the old man is asking him urgently not to go. The “mother’s entreaties” as serves to say the war like the “fierce” sound should be stopped. The fact that the drums disrupts the bridegrooms happiness and the farmer’s peacefulness implies that not everyone is enthusiastic about the war effort; these men as well and others that the drums disrupts probably have to go fight in the war. I see very little implication that people are drawn in by the drums to support the war effort. The warhawks, who are playing the drums and bugles and urging the people to join the war effort, seem like a small minority compared to the people in the towns and cities.
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