I agree with Mark Nelly’s assertion concerning Whitman’s poem “Beat! Beat! Drums.” No where in Whitman’s poem is there a mention of slavery, emancipation, or anything relating to such topics. However, Whitman does use the metaphor of the drums to serve as unification among the people who hear the drums, which pretty much is everyone as Whitman covers a variety of different people. The drums sweep through the group of people mentioned consuming their consciousness and calling for unification among the people for the good of the war. The drums serve as an overwhelming concern which gets greater and greater consuming more and more people as time goes on. “Blow! Bugles! Blow!” this shows how Whitman wanted immediate action and attention to be heard and this concern of the war (the bugles and drums) to sweep throughout every citizen who wanted to stand up for their country. While the poem can be confusing when first read, you begin to see that these drums are an urgent call for people to unite and drop what they are doing. “No happiness must he have now with his bride…” This quotation from line five demonstrates perfectly how Whitman feels towards the war as everyone no matter what the cause (even marriage), needs to give the war attention.
I feel this poem is a reflection of Whitman’s concern for war attention. However Whitman may want such drastic and immediate attention because he feels the problem of slavery needs to be abolished as soon as possible. Nevertheless, I am forced to concur with Nelly due to no evidence even acknowledging the practice of slavery. The poem is a cry for unification and attention to the war.
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I respectfully disagree that this poem is a call to action and that the drums beat to strike awareness of the war in each individual. I feel that Whitman was detailing the harsh reality of war that deprives us of our humanity and breaks apart families. There is no peace in war and Whitman exemplifies this in line 16, “Make no parley – stop for no expostulation.” Here, any attempt at peace is ruled out as the drums beat on, propelling the people into war. Natural tendencies to mind the timid, weeper, or prayer are stripped as the drums beat and bugles blow. “Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties.” The voice of a child usually strikes in the heart of a solider to offer peace to enemies. And our mothers are often right, so if we are taught to ignore these voices of reason, like our inner-consciousness, then we neglected to realize our human potential to wage peace, not war. The drums beat out any doubts about the war and push us into battle. I disagree that this poem cries out for unification; I believe it deactivates our humanity and separates us from natural tendencies to fight in war.
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