Walt Whitman's 'Beat ! Drums'

914 Words4 Pages
The Civil War, a conflict fought between the Northern States and the Southern States was the most important event in the history of the United States. Only lasting four years, it is known to be the deadliest war in history. But how do people who were not alive to experience events and wars such as the Civil War know about them? Before any war began, people imagined a war as an event in which people fight to solve a conflict. But before people learned about their country's history, they didn't know about the dreadfulness of the battlefield, the discomfort of soldiers during a battle, the consequences and effects of war. It wasn't until writers such as Walt Whitman and movie producers such as Steven Spielberg depicted the realistic portrayal…show more content…
Beat! Drums!" which represent some kind of instruments, in this case military instruments, emphasizing that the sound of weapons are used to start a war (1). Then he continues writing that the drums and bugles sound to inform everyone that war is about to begin, "Through the windows- through the doors- burst like a force of armed men" (2). Whitman's main goal of his poem is to make the reader envision what war was like and how it affected people, as he gives an example of a bridegroom leaving his wife and a farmer leaving his farm to help fight in the war. If a husband went to war, who would now support his family? If a farmer went to fight, who would grow the crops to provide food? Ordinary people went to fight, they went to finish what somebody else started so there could be peace in the…show more content…
They had to put their lives in danger, taking the risk of any malfunction of the explosives which may cause their death in order to have a better chance of winning the war. We saw how important the communication was between the soldiers and the captain. When Captain Miller lost his hearing, after his helmet got knocked off, his connection with the soldiers was lost. His men were being hit by bullets and explosives and were too scared to move. The soldiers were so dependent on their captain that they had no idea what to do and were in danger. When a soldiers came up to Captain Miller and asked him what to do, Captain Miller just looks around realizing how important his commands are to his

    More about Walt Whitman's 'Beat ! Drums'

      Open Document