To Thee, Old Cause!
To Thee, Old Cause! - context Summary
Composed During the Civil War
Written during the American Civil War and included in Drum-Taps, Whitman’s poem addresses the "old Cause"—the abolition of slavery and preservation of the Union—as an enduring, impersonal idea worth the conflict. Whitman casts the war and his poetry as intertwined celebrations and reckonings around that central principle. He presents the cause as timeless and generative, positioning his book as revolving around and merged with the moral and historical struggle of the war.
Read Complete AnalysesTO thee, old Cause! Thou peerless, passionate, good cause! Thou stern, remorseless, sweet Idea! Deathless throughout the ages, races, lands! After a strange, sad war—great war for thee, (I think all war through time was really fought, and ever will be really fought, for thee;) These chants for thee—the eternal march of thee. Thou orb of many orbs! Thou seething principle! Thou well-kept, latent germ! Thou centre! Around the idea of thee the strange sad war revolving, With all its angry and vehement play of causes, (With yet unknown results to come, for thrice a thousand years,) These recitatives for thee—my Book and the War are one, Merged in its spirit I and mine—as the contest hinged on thee, As a wheel on its axis turns, this Book, unwitting to itself, Around the Idea of thee.
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