Comments on Anne's Blog

Sorry I didn't post this on your blog, Anne, I had trouble accessing your site.

From Anne's Blog:

"Whitman’s perspective in “Beat! Beat! Drums!” speaks to everyone in the nation and does not use illusions to describe the influence the war has on the union. In Timrod’s “The Cotton Boll,” the cotton ball is linked to the earth (from which it came) and a bird pulls the narrator up into the sky to view the confederacy. This view is difficult for the reader to understand since it challenges normal perception of the world. It is more easily understood by the reader in Whitman’s poem that the sound the drums beat at the heart of everyone in the nation, including the dead. “Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses.” "

Although I originally interpreted Whitman’s view of war as menacing and interrupting to peace of the nation’s people, I can also see the side of the argument which places Whitman more on the supportive side of the war. When Whitman contrasts the beating of the drums and the blowing of the horns with the images of the peace and progress of everyday life, his attitude could also be suggesting that this is a time for war instead of peace. Through Anne’s reading that the drums beat at every heart of the nation I can concede to a Whitman who is supportive of this war: A Whitman who realizes that the time for war is now.