Jillian for 10/15
I am really enjoying these poems recently. After struggling to get through the first few weeks this has been refreshing, and dare I say it…fun.
I have always been interested in the Civil War and at one time was a History major. Although my major has changed, my passion for History has not wavered.
In his journal entries during the Civil War, Walt Whitman places himself carefully in between the living and dead, combining the arts of war and writing what results in what I believe is some of his most beautiful poetry. I know critics believe that Whitman’s civil war poetry is dead but I disagree. I found it intriguing, and moreover it’s deep historical presence I believe are extremely relevant to today. Whitman provides for the men who died a history…he remembers them as they should be remembered.
Having just welcomed home someone close to my heart from the War in Iraq, reading these poems took on a new level of poignancy. These days, it is difficult to find anyone who doesn’t know someone in the war or who has fought in his war. Many of these poems reminded me of stories I have heard either on the news or firsthand, but the one that really resonated with me most was In the Weather–Does it Sympathize with these Times? I could apply much of what Whitman wrote to the letters I had recieved in the past from my loved one at war.
Some of the lines that stood out most:
“Whether the rains, the heat and cold and what underlies them all, are affected with what affects man in masses.”
“There since this war and the wide and deep national agitation, strange analogies, different combinations, a different sunlight or absence of it; different products out of the ground.”
“In the army hospitals, where the wounded are lying in their cots, and many a sick boy come down to the war from Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and the rest.”
The last line is exceptionally difficult and can easily compared to the war today. Hospitals are overloaded with men (and now women) from all over the United States. They come from the North, South, East and West. They are black, white and hispanic. They are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends. They are the everyman that Whitman was talking about.
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