Walt Whitman, the poet of Old War-Dreams* is a man who has written many poems about the Civil War. Walt Whitman has also experienced the civil war for himself, being a volunteer in a military hospital in Washington D.C.. His poem Old War-Dreams* tells of some one who has seen death, lost and doesn’t want to see it again.
In the midnight sleep of many faces anguished,
Of the look at first of the mortally wounded, (of that indescribable look,)
Of the dead on their backs with arms extended wide,
I dream, I dream, I dream.
Of scenes of Nature, fields and mountains,
Of skies so beauteous after a storm, and at night the moon so unearthly
bright,
Shining sweetly, shining down, where we dig the trenches and gather
The heaps,
I dream, I dream, I dream.
Long have they pass’d, faces and trenches and fields,
Where through the carnage I moved with a callous composure, or away
from the fallen,
Onward I sped at the time-but now of their forms at night,
I dream, I dream, I dream.
1865-6
The narrator and his dreams are what this poem is all about. In the beginning of the poem the narrator is describing what he sees and has seen. "(Of that indescribable look)", and "Of the dead on their backs with arms extended wide," This narrator in these lines is looking around him and all he sees is people lying on their backs dead, never to see their family or friends again. In the next scene the narrator is describing what he would like to see and be close to, "Of scenes of Nature, fields and mountains / Of skies so beauteous after a storm, and at night the moon so unearthly." The he continues to dream of things he has passed and they are faces, trenches, and fields. He dreams of the carnage he has seen and how he has had to walk away from the fallen ones, and then he dreams. In this poem the narrator learns the hardship of war, the unrealistic battles, the sounds, the dark scenery, and he learns more of death and how every one can not be saved.
The mood of this poem would have to be a sense of sadness. It gives me a sense of sadness for the people who died for our country, our land, and our equality. There is also very good imagery in line three, four, five, and six. These words are dead on their backs with arms extended wide, scenes of nature, their also is fields and mountains, and last there is Beauteous skies after a storm. When I read these words it gives me a good picture of what the narrator has seen and has wanted to seen the skies, people, and the lands.
Lastly, the tone of this poem has to be both sadness and happiness. Whitman writes of the civil war he lived through aiding people in a Washington D.C. hospital. While Whitman writes he has to feel sad about the people, he saw die and couldn't save and he should feel happy for all the people he and his colleagues saved so their families can see and speak to them once again.
Walt Whitman has as I’ve said written many poems one other than this after reading it a few times I found to be a good poem and that is Ranks Hard-Prest.
Walt Whitman Sites:
http://users.erols.com/kfaser/
http://users.erols.com/kfaser/march-rank.html
Animation from www.barysclipart.com
News Article
Ryan
Richmond Daily Dispatch
Sept. 25, 1861
The Poor Old Lady at Manassas
One of the correspondents of the Daily gives the following account of the poor old lady who was killed in her house
amid the [ ] of the contending armies at Manassas.
There, near the spot where the last desperate struggle was made, is the house of Mrs. Henry, the central point in the
field of the combat. We participated in the natural curiosity of all who visited the spot. It was the scene of one of the
most interesting incidents of the battle, which is doubtless familiar to all your readers.
Here had lived for a half century an old woman who had been long crippled by age, and was now bed-ridden; she was
attended by a son and daughter, both quite old and infirm. Remaining quietly in this house, in the midst of the conflict
around them, the red wave of the battle at last swept around the house, where, under its cover, the guns were loaded
and then run out to be fired at our troops, formed at a distance of two or three hundred yards in front.
Some kindly person notified the son of the danger of remaining in the house, and made a vain effort to induce his
mother to consent to a removal into an adjacent hollow; but she declined, saying that it was time enough for her to die.
The son and daughter, therefore, left her, and placed themselves in a safe place. The batteries then opened with great
fury upon the old house, riddling it from top to bottom.
When the combat was over, the old woman was found quite dead, and dreadfully mutilated. Several balls had struck
her, and a cupboard which was doubtless as old as herself, had fallen upon and crushed her. When the house was
entered by our troops, after the repulse of the enemy, the old man was found sitting by the mangled remains of his
mother.
This article is taken from the Richmond Daily Dispatch and it speaks about a women who was told she should move to be safe from troops coming through put Mrs. Henry refused. The way the discussion over weather not she stays or goes started when the troops fire started flying by her home. The troops then opened fire on the house and it was being destroyed. Many balls hit the house along with the women. The woman was squished, mutilated on her floor. After the combat was over the troops entered to find the old man beside the remains of his mother who had been brutally squished and killed.
This article gives good details on what could happened during a big combat. It also tells what one group of troops could do to a poor old lady and her house. I think the troops were out of line firing on a house with only one person living in it. This article is a good article to have about the civil war because now we know that the troops weren't just fighting each other, but they were fight civilians.
There is probably many other articles from this news paper that talk about the war and how life was back then. One site to find these on would be http://www.nps.gov/mana/letters/pooroldlady.htm . or you could use http://www.ask.com .
