One of the most prominent voices of American poetry, Walt Whitman is often credited for being one of the architects of the uniqueness of American poetry. For this journal entry, seven of Whitman’s poems were assigned to be read and reacted to. The first poem, The Wound Dresser, is considered one of Whitman’s most famous poems. The poem illustrates a view of war and tells the reader what happens with men who go to war, and how there is joy in soldiers’ life, but there is not much of it. As Whitman participated in the Civil war as a volunteer, the poem reflects his experience working in the hospitals with wounded soldiers. Throughout the poem, Whitman describes numerous wounds that he had to dress to paint a depressing picture of the horrors of war. The author changes the poem’s movement multiple times to emphasize his haste from one patient to another, from one wound to another and then slows for sad depictions of wounded men.
The poem When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d is Whitman’s elegy to the death of Abraham Lincoln. The poem describes Whitman’s grief and touches on the theme of death, just like in The Wound Dresser. In both poems, the author stands that there is beauty in death, as death is the place to rest without suffering, but those left to live will continue to suffer. The other assigned shorter poems included O Captain! My Captain! dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, and other responses to war from the poet, Cavalry Crossing a Ford, A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim. Although a significant part of Whitman’s works is Civil War-related, some of his works explored themes distant from the war. When I Heard the Learned Astronomer emphasizes differences between science and nature and A Noiseless Patient Spider explores a soul’s desire for connection despite being isolated in a “vacant vast surrounding”. However, the author’s signature technique is presented throughout various poems in the use of repetitions and parallelism.