The Wound-Dresser Flashcards
Summary.
- The poem deals with the consequences & casualties of war.
- The poem is set in a Civil War hospital in the Washington, D.C. area, & thus focuses on the realities of war that are often left out of war coverage & discourse - the wounded & dying soldiers.
- The structure of the poem tends to instil the belief that the human consequences of war are what are most remembered by those who lived through it.
Themes.
- The Reality of War
- Innocence vs Experience
- The Body
- Compassion
How is the reality of war presented?
- The focus of the poem is not of heroism on the battlefield, but of the humble suffering of the men who have been devastated physically, psychologically & spiritually.
- The poem also explores the psychological, emotional & spiritual demands on those who care for the wounded & dying.
- The speaker reflects on the humanity of men who die in war not as soldiers sacrificing for a cause, but as mortal, individual men who left life with acts that reflect the cruelty that mankind can inflict on one another.
How is Innocence vs Experience presented?
- The poem contrasts the romantic exuberance for war with the grim realities of war. Whitman presents this dichotomy by contrasting the poet, presented as an old man, with children who ask the poet about the war.
How is the Body presented?
- Whitman focuses on the body, but not to celebrate it, as in “I Sing the Body Electric”, but rather to reveal its inherent fragility, to care for its injuries & to mourn its loss.
- Instead of celebrating the perfection of the body, Whitman confronts broken bodies in the hospital. The wounds of the soldiers are very specific & graphically presented.
- The poet indicates that it is the human body that must ultimately pay the price of war, implying that the words of patriotic speeches have only manifested as woundsH in the bodies of soldiers.
How is compassion presented?
- “The Wound-Dresser” presents a new vocation for the poet. In this poem, we do not encounter the enraptured chanter of songs, or the celebratory voice of democracy.
- The poet is depicted as a healer.
- Whitman’s poem focuses on the healing power of compassion on the wounded soldiers & the soothing effect of compassion on those who are dying from wounds.
Section 1:
…An old man bending I come among new faces,
Years looking backward resuming in answer to children,
Come tell us old man, as from young men & maidens that love me,…
Section 2:
O maidens & young men I love & that love me,
What you ask of my days those the strangest & sudden your talking recalls,…
- Juxtaposition of “old man” with “young men & maidens
- Questions that young people pose the old man about the war reveal the difference between reading about war as a historical event in books & actually living through a war.
Section 1:
“To sit by the wounded & soothe them, or silently watch the dead;)
Years hence of these scenes, of these furious passions, these chances,
Of unsurpass’d heroes, (was one side so brave? the other was equally brave;)
Now be witness again, paint the mightiest armies of earth,
Of those armies so rapid so wondrous what saw you to tell us?”
- The youth ask about the war through the filter of history & romance. They ask about glory & valour. The old man responds to the youth not with tales of heroism or glory, but with a warning of how soon the consequences of war are forgotten.
- Parallelism & repetition in “so rapid so wondrous” - emphasises the extent of the glorification of war in history books which is a stark contrast with the extreme suffering of the wounded soldiers
Section 2:
“In the nick of time I come, plunge in the fight, loudly shout in the rush of successful charge,
Enter the captur’d works - yet lo, like a swift running river they fade,
Pass & are gone they fade - I dwell not on soldiers’ perils or soldiers’ joys,
(Both I remember well - many of the hardships, few the joys, yet I was content.)”
…
“So soon what is over forgotten, & waves wash the imprints off the sand,”
- The speaker conveys the idea of **the world moving on, moving past the war, & the harsh memories of war are washed away by time just as waves wa
- “yet lo, like a swift running river they fade, // Pass & are gone they fade” - The rolling /r/ sounds & the dual meaning of the word “fade” highlight the rapidity in which the soldiers die & are reduced to a figment of memory or are returned to the battlefield the moment they recover (receiving no rest).
- Repetition of “they fade”
- Sibilance in “So soon”, alliteration in “waves wash” & “imprints” - the efforts of the soldiers are no more than mere “imprints” considering the larger perspective of nature & the universe. Therefore reiterating the futility of war.
Section 2:
“But in silence, in dreams’ projections,
While the world of gain & appearance & mirth goes on,
So soon what is over forgotten, & waves wash the imprints off the sand
With hinged knees returning I enter the doors, (while for you up there,
Whoever you are, follow without noise & be of strong heart.)
Bearing the bandages, water & sponge,
Straight & swift to my wounded I go,
Where they lie on the ground after the battle brought in,
Where their priceless blood reddens the grass, the ground,
Or to the rows of the hospital tent, or under the roof’d hospital,
To the long rows of cots up & down each side I return,
To each and all one after another I draw near, not one do I miss,
An attendant follows holding a tray, he carries a refuse pail,
Soon to be fill’d with clotted rags and blood, emptied, and fill’d again.”
- The veteran insists that it is not memory of the combat that troubles his sleep, but the lingering images of the sacrifices exacted on the human body & spirit.
- “Whoever you are, follow without noise & be of strong heart.)” - the poem is not only for the soldiers but also for other casualties of war & invites readers to accept the truth.
- “Straight & swift” - sibilance - swiftly & quietly
- “my wounded” - closeness, intimacy & responsibility
- “battle brought in” - plosives accentuate the harshness of war
- “priceless blood reddens the grass, the ground,” - the disturbing image of the blood & the guttural sounds - gruesome ordeal faced by soldiers on the battlefield.
- Repetition of “hospital” - reminder of where the soldiers are.
- Active words in “I go”, “I return”, “I draw near” & “I miss” - enlivens the harrowing scenes by helping readers to visualise the acts of the healer & add pace to the poem.
- “clotted rags & blood, emptied, & fill’d again.” - Images of blood & injury & the repetitive action
Section 2:
“I onward go, I stop,
With hinged knees & steady hand to dress wounds,
I am firm with each, the pangs are sharp yet unavoidable,
One turns to me his appealing eyes - poor boy! I never knew you,
Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you.”
- The veteran recounts not his own heroism but rather his helplessness.
- “hinged knees” - He lowers to his knees in reverence & supplication to clean & dress soldiers’ wounds &, in a moment of radical identification, declares, “poor boy! I never knew you, // Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you” - sacrifices made by the youth are unfair & he is compelled to die for them.
- “physical pangs” - dual meaning - physical pangs of the wounded & emotional pangs felt by the wound-dresser
Section 3:
“The crush’d head I dress, […]
The neck of the cavalry-man with the bullet through & through I examine,”
“From the stump of the arm, the amputated hand,”
“I dress the perforated shoulder, the foot with the bullet-wound,
Cleanse the one with a gnawing & putrid gangrene,”
- Whitman’s characteristic method of listing in the amputations, the bullet wounds & the gangrene. The segmentation of body parts reflects the way that war disintegrates the fabric of society.
Section 3:
I am faithful, I do not give out,
The fractur’d thigh, the knee, the wound in the abdomen,
These and more I dress with impassive hand, (yet deep in my breast a fire, a burning flame.)
- Juxtaposition of the “impassive hand” with “breast a fire, a burning flame” - the wound-dresser has to remain calm in the face of horrendous pain & suffering of the wounded while treating them. While the image of “fire” & “burning flame” represents the equal force of both emotions of sadness & anger inside him.
- “impassive hand” - To maintain his effectiveness, the wound-dresser has to contain & repress his emotional response to what he sees.
- “I am faithful, I do not give out,” - wavering ambiguity. To be “faithful” to his work, he must not allow himself to physically or emotionally waver. But to be “faithful” to each suffering patient, he wants to “give out” by giving love generously.
Section 3:
“I dress a wound in the side, deep, deep,
But a day or two more, for see the frame all wasted & sinking,”
- “But a day or two more, for see the frame all wasted & sinking” - He works to heal the injured, even when he know that such care is ultimately useless.
Section 4:
“The hurt & wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young,
Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet & sad,
(Many a soldier’s loving arms about this neck have cross’d & rested,
Many a soldier’s kiss dwells on these bearded lips.)”
- “The hurt & wounded I pacify with soothing hand,” - the importance of physical & emotional healing as in the end, it is not the wound-dresser’s healing touch that lingers but the “kiss [that] dwells”, a metaphor for compassion.
- The word, “dwells” is in present tense - that after so many years, those kisses still live. No matter the fate of each soldier, he lives on the lips of the poet & is spoken - through poetic expression - back to life.
