Beat! Beat! Drums!
Beat! Beat! Drums! - context Summary
Composed During the Civil War
Walt Whitman wrote "Beat! Beat! Drums!" for his Drum-Taps collection amid the American Civil War. The poem summons drums and bugles as intrusive, unstoppable forces that shatter ordinary life—churches, schools, weddings, farms, courts—forcing national mobilization. Its repeated imperative voice dramatizes wartime urgency and the suspension of private comfort for collective conflict. Published in 1860, it reflects Whitman’s patriotic fervor and the war’s disruption of daily routines.
Read Complete Analyses1 BEAT! beat! drums!—Blow! bugles! blow! Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force, Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation; Into the school where the scholar is studying; Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride; Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, plowing his field or gathering his grain; So fierce you whirr and pound, you drums—so shrill you bugles blow. 2 Beat! beat! drums!—Blow! bugles! blow! Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets: Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? No sleepers must sleep in those beds; No bargainers’ bargains by day—no brokers or speculators—Would they continue? Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing? Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge? Then rattle quicker, heavier drums—you bugles wilder blow. 3 Beat! beat! drums!—Blow! bugles! blow! Make no parley—stop for no expostulation; Mind not the timid—mind not the weeper or prayer; Mind not the old man beseeching the young man; Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties; Make even the trestles to shake the dead, where they lie awaiting the hearses, So strong you thump, O terrible drums—so loud you bugles blow.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.