Abstract
“The Wound-Dresser” by Whitman is one of the poems of the “Drum-Taps” cycle. This poem begins with a question that young people ask the main character – a bent older man who saw the war with his own eyes. They ask which of the glorious military actions and fierce battles the older man remembered best and most vividly (The Wound-Dresser). They ask to tell about the war in the way that only young and naive people can – as about something great and magnificent. The older man remembers the war in a completely different way. The answer is that it was not the sieges and battles that were etched into the older man’s memory but the groans and screams of the wounded, the last breath of dying soldiers. War is, first of all, death and fear, cruelty and pain, behind which courage and glory are hidden; this is the answer to the question.
The main focus of this poem and the cycle as a whole are Whitman’s memories, impressions, and arguments associated with the Civil War. This poem also traces the threads of humanism, mercy, and compassion for one’s neighbor. Love and care for the unfortunate injured young people, who were permanently crippled by the war, come to the fore. This poem also pays great attention to the incredible devotion and dedication of the main character, who, without hesitation, would give his life for any of his patients (The Wound-Dresser). The doctor’s fatherly love for patients, his excellent care, and his strength of spirit will not leave the reader indifferent. Thus, the central theme of this poem is the horrors of war and the human compassion and power of the heart that oppose them.
Analysis of the Poem “When I Was Small”
Dickinson’s work is one of the brightest pages in the history of world women’s literature. The theme of this poem is the unity of souls who were reunited after death. The author states that it is possible to find something positive even in death because it allowed the mother and child to be together again. We will not be alone even in death because our relatives and friends who have already left the mortal world are waiting for us there. The main image of this poem is the image of a Mother and Son couple and the idea of Paradise, where they both went. The poetess does not question the existence of Paradise because the theme of religion and faith are among the central ones in her work. Dickinson’s image of Paradise is where lost souls finally meet and where there is no place for pride or human fears.
For this poem, Dickinson is characterized by a pulsating rhythm (she puts no commas, using dashes extensively to highlight rhythmic segments within a line). This form is generated not by the inability to write smoothly and not by the desire to stand out, but by the desire to highlight the very grain of thought-without a husk and without a shiny shell. In this poem, the author does not use two words, if one is enough, and combines tangible things with abstract ideas. The metaphor “Till Bullets clipt an Angle And He passed quickly round” seems interesting since it creates a feeling that the son opened his way to Paradise by shooting through the vault of heaven (When I was small, a woman died). Dickinson’s incomplete rhymes, irregularities of style, convulsive changes of rhythm, and the very unevenness of this poem are perceived as a metaphor for the surrounding life.
References
The Wound-Dresser. (n.d.). Poetry Foundation. Web.
When I was small, a woman died. (n.d.). Poeticous. Web.