“Revolution is the Pod” contains an extended metaphor represented directly by the title. Dickinson uses the image of a blooming flower/plant to represent the revolution of the Civil War. In the poem, the flower represents the revolution, the color of the flower represents the inspiration of the revolution, and the Winds of Will represents the initiation of the revolution. Dickinson represents the revolutionary south as enclosed inside the flower pod before the Civil War began, in bloom when the Civil War occurred, and dead and colorless after the Civil War ended.
In this poem, Dickinson uses color as a symbol of the drive behind the Confederacy. Through the emphasis she places on the color of the flower, Dickinson conveys the message that because of a lack of drive and passion (the presence of color in the flower), the revolution (flower) has died: “But except it’s Russet Base/ Every Summer be/ The Entomber of itself,/ So of Liberty.” In this stanza, the blooming of the flower is both its rise and demise, because eventually the color goes away; Dickinson uses this image of the flower blooming with color and dying colorless to convey the message that the Confederate revolution was destined to end eventually, because the confederacy’s passion was destined to die. In light of this analogy, it is prudent to suggest that the Union symbolizes time in this metaphor, because the flower died when the summer ended or when its time was up. Dickinson uses this metaphor to express her sentiments that she never believed the confederation had a chance even in the beginning, because time was eventually going to cause it to die.
The last stanza shows the confederacy as an inactive flower on the stalk. Dickinson uses color to represent the confederacy as dead and without hope: “All it’s Purple fled.” It is interesting that Dickinson uses purple as the absent color in the dead flower, because purple is traditionally known as a royal color, which conveys the message that any kind of foothold the Confederates had gained is now stripped away.
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I don’t think Whitman necessarily disdains the Civil War. Actually, Whitman was a Radical Republican. He had a brother who died at Fredericksburg and he was an ardent supporter of Lincoln. He was definitely not a pacifist who believed the Civil War was just a disturbance and wrong. I feel as though he is simply asserting how it affects everyone, whether we realize it or not. His repetition of “Beat! beat! drums” sounds like a call to battle. The interrupted peace and progression simply further establishes the point that this War is changing everybody’s life. The view of Whitman’s tone as sarcastic seems to be stretching it some. I think it was just a fact of life that most soldiers and those who loved them were common people such as churchgoers, scholars, bridegrooms, and farmers. It was not like the Civil War was something completely removed from the Homefront. In fact, it was probably more deeply felt at home then in some military camps (if that is possible.) I do agree that Whitman thinks turmoil comes to all these people, but I do not think this leads to him hating the war. I also agree that the inevitability of war is also something Whitman was reinforcing.
Whitman’s words do sound loud and obnoxious, but that’s how war (and especially bugles) sound. The emotionally touching words just speak the truth of what war does. It’s a good thing that Whitman is not glorifying war, but he is also not saying it is unnecessary and ridiculous.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to like a Northerner’s opinion of the Civil War with the Emancipation Proclamation. Most Northerners did not really care whether the slaves were freed or not, they just wanted to preserve the Union. While this may sound harsh, it has been well documented. (Also slaves were used mostly on cotton, tobacco, and rice plantations; I feel as though Whitman would have used an allusion to those crops other than wheat if he was truly asserting an opinion on slavery.)
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