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.