I will agree with Neely that Whitman seems to make no acknowledgement of the Emancipation Proclamation in his work. However, were there many (or any) white poets at the time who were making any acknowledgement of it? I don't believe that Whitman was alone in his quickness to make little of this huge event. As we have seen in the other Civil War poem by Timrod that not much acknowledgement is given to African Americans in the first place. Timrod only chooses to include the dusky fingers of the slave that he is describing. He could care less about the rest of his body. This slave as a person with worth was not allowed inside his poem. I'm not sure which Neely would consider worst, Whitman's total neglect of the Emancipation Proclamation, or Timrod's blatant disregard for African Americans. It seems to me that Whitman is very concerned with his country and the union. Throughout his poem, "Beat! Beat! Drums!" Whitman makes a call to men to join up and fight for their country. However, perhaps Whitman saw that the Emancipation Proclamation did not do as much as people think it did on that very first day. The Emancipation Proclamation at first only freed those slaves that had already escaped to the Union side. I want to make clear that I acknowledge that this was one of the most important moments in the fight against slavery. However, most people believe that the Emancipation proclamation freed all slaves. That is just not the case. Once the union army moved south more and more slaves were eventually freed. But it was not until the thirteenth amendment that slavery was officially banished. For all we know Whitman could have been disgruntled by the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation was not a total disbandment of slavery. This is probably a stretch, however, I believe that the fact that Whitman does not write about the Emancipation Proclamation does not give us room to say that he did not care at all.

Before There Were Draft Cards

I was surprised when I read the poem "Beat! Beat! Drums!" by Walt Whitman. For some reason I had not expected Whitman to produce such a patriotic poem. Though it is not blatantly one leaning or the other, when you read it you feel compelled to fight. I am not exactly sure why this surprised me about Whitman. I suppose that I had anticipated him as being against the war. However, he clearly displays his urgency to fight and defend in this poem. From the very first line of "Beat! Beat! Drums!" you can feel the effect of Whitman's words. Not only is he pushing you through the poem with these explosions, he is also pushing the people towards fighting. He discusses going into the churches and schools and rounding up the men to fight. Whitman did not consider these things to be excuses to get out of fighting. He clearly feels that it would be ridiculous to not fight. Whitman states, "would they continue? Would the talkers be talking? Would the singer attempt to sing?" In Whitman's mind people should not even be spending time on these things. He continues by warning the men not to give in to their feelings of retreat. To further warn the men Whitman states, "let not the child's voice be heard, nor the mother's entreaties." I believe Whitman fears that if the men listen to their children and mother's cries as they leave they will be less likely to continue on and fight. I believe that the drums and bugles serve to keep the men focused ad confident in their cause. Whitman ends the poem by saying that even the dead must be woken. Everyone must realize the need to fight and do their part. Finally, in the last line I found it interesting that Whitman calls the drums terrible. Perhaps as much as he supports the cause he still realizes how awful of a thing war is.

It took me so long to figure out what was going on in the story "Benito Cereno". It was not necessarily that the reading was difficult, I just lack the ability to foresee possible endings. It was actually when the narrator told the readers what happened that I fully understood what had happened on the boat. For the longest time I was under the suspicion that Don Cereno was the one who was out to get Captain Delano. His odd actions and weird conversations led me to believe that he was withholding information. The thought that the slaves could have been the ones running the show never crossed my mind. Not that the thought is unthinkable, it is just something that you never hear about in History class. I honestly don't know if I have ever heard of such a case. Melville catches you completely off guard when Don Cereno jumps ship. That must have been the moment I knew. When Don Cereno would not let go of Captain Delano's hand I knew that he was stalling. You could really sense the fear that Don Cereno was feeling at that moment. The fear that this might be the last time that he might encounter what he considered civilization and freedom. It seems odd that a man that is being forced into submission could still feel that certain people still deserve that kind of treatment.
But even when I thought I had it all figured out I was still stereotyping. I thought that it must have been the large African American man, Atufal, that would have led the revolution. Surely the only way they could have successfully taken over the ship would have been with his brawn. However, once again I was wrong. It was in fact Babo, the small and seemingly gentle aid to the Captain that led the deadly revolt. I was so quick to judge that the only way that the slaves could have made a successful revolt would have been through physical intimidation. Though force was used it was their intelligence and careful planning that got them as far as they did.

The Poor Man's Poem

I think the reason that The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe has become such an American classic is because so many people are able to understand it. There are many people who hate poetry for the very fact that they say it is far too confusing for them to understand what the author is talking about. Poe, however, seems to write in a way that people feel comfortable reading him. For instance, in The Raven Poe uses a very clear and definite rhyme scheme. Most people expect rhyming when they see a poem. There is something about expecting that next rhyme that keeps the poem flowing and understandable. Not to mention that Poe uses pretty simple language, especially when you compare it to the other readings we have been doing in class. If you were to take the average American they could most likely make some sense of what Poe was trying to talk about in this poem. In addition, Poe does an excellent job of creating a scene in which the reader needs no prior knowledge. There is not a certain time period that this poem makes the most sense in. For this reason The Raven has been able to be successful throughout many decades.
I also think that The Raven has been such a popular poem because for many people they understand what Poe was talking about. I personally believe that the raven represented that darkness in the man's heart. I think that the death of his Lenore caused him to lose a part of himself to the sadness that he felt. I think the raven represents what the man was missing. Not only did it represent that physically, but he reminded the man continually that these feelings would continue and that he would leave, "nevermore". I think many people have a raven in their lives. Perhaps it's not only the ongoing grief of a loved one, but rather the constant reminder that something is missing in your life. The Raven represents dark space in your heart that cannot be filled and cannot be satisfied without the desired object. I think for these reasons that many people have been able to connect with The Raven, making it a huge success.

Take that Tories

For Mercy Otis Warren the play "The Group" represents many different attempts to make statements about current issues in the colonies. To write a satirical play about Tories at this time, especially for a woman, was a fairly daring feat. To begin with Warren has many of the Tory characters making statements that do not necessarily correspond to usual Tory beliefs. There is an admission that one character is only in it for the fame and fortune, while others express that the patriot cause is really right and just. Why would any Tory say such things? This seems odd that Warren would switch up the thinking from what we would expect. However, I believe that she did this with the audience in mind. The entertainment value of this must have been priceless. How amusing would it be to see the people that you despise the most saying the things that they would never ever say? In addition, how infuriating would it be for the Tories that were able to get their hands on this play to see the things that Warren was accusing them of saying and doing? I believe it would be just as entertaining as for us to see a play in which Duke students expressed how inferior they are to UNC students. Portraying the Tories in such a light was a real blow to their egos and their cause.
In addition, Warren is even more daring when she challenges the way women are viewed in the Revolution. When Hateall is discussing how he married a girl for her money and then proceeded to beat her he is making the Tories not only look ignorant, but sexist. By adding this into the conversations that were intended to be taken as ridiculous, Warren is showing that she does not support such attitudes. Perhaps Hateall's view describes the popular view at the time. I'm sure that women were considered useless for most of the American Revolution. However, Warren brings this up to show that she, and educated successful woman, is a complete contradiction of the women portrayed in this play.