BEAT BEAT DRUMS!!!!!!!!!

As a side not: First of all the Emancipation Proclamation really did not have an impact on American society. Before jumping all over this assertion hear me out as I have been told this on numerous occasions by my history professors. While hailed by abolitionists as a wonderful thing and we can all agree ending slavery is a wonderful thing, it had little real impact. The nation was at war and in the places that Lincoln had control over there were already no slaves because they had been freed. The places that did have slaves were in revolt and obviously wouldn’t obey a proclamation from what they considered a foreign government. On top of this, slaves were already being freed in the places that the union was taking over during the war so it was really just putting down on paper what was already in practice. The really important document was the amendment to the constitution outlawing the practice of slavery which was passed after the war. All of that is necessary to understand why it is the Whitman would not have made a big deal out of the Emancipation Proclamation because the war was really about maintaining the Union and not to free slaves. Freeing slaves resulted because the North won not because the North was freeing slaves and the south didn’t like it.

As a democratic nationalist it is natural for him to focus on the real importance of the war of maintaining the Union in his poetry. He was an ardent supporter of the abolitionist cause and was certainly happy that freedom was going to be assured but the uncertainty of war was still upon the nation and that is what the nations bard needed to speak out about, which is exactly what Beat! Beat! Drums! is about.

As can be seen before hand I do agree with Neely that Whitman did see the war as mainly a war for Unification of the states. Three main points about the war are made in this peace including intensity, the disruption, and the uncertainty of the war. To begin with, the intensity of the war can be seen in the language and the structure of the poem. Throughout the poem, Whitman uses language that portrays the strength and destructiveness of the war. For instance he speaks of the sound of the drums and bugles bursting with ruthless force and the shrillness of the blowing bugles. He speaks of the war making no apology or stopping for no reasoning and just how terrible the sound of the drums is. The drums and the bugles represent the war and are interesting choices as each represents a different part of battle, drums for army and bugle for the cavalry. Each of these musical instruments is beautiful in the music they create but they have been turned into weapons of war for they signal attacks on the battlefield. This is just like the people in the war who are beautiful in themselves but have become destructive as they fight against one another. The exclamation at the beginning of each stanza helps to continue this theme of intensity but also to the sense of disruptiveness that is presented. It seems to break of the first line and make it not flow like the rest of the stanza. Disruptiveness can also be seen in the daily lives of citizens in this poem because of the war. All life has come to a stand still as no one can do what they are supposed to. Husbands can’t be with wives, farmers can’t be peaceful, and no commerce can commence because of this war. Happiness has stopped and it is presented here that no normalcy can return until the end of this war has been reached. Whitman then encourages the army to fight harder and better than ever before. May the fight be so loud that even the dead are awakened is on sentiment he presents and wishes for. In the last stanza especially it is seen how even though the civil war has changed everything it is important for it to be fought and won for the union to remain.