The rhythm of Whitman

Walt Whitman’s poem “Beat! Beat! Drums!” is eerily memorable and haunting, beating out a cadence that stays in a reader’s mind long after they have read it. The drums, like war itself, are unstoppable, not even pausing long enough for a wedding ceremony to be completed. In this poem, through his clever use of literary techniques, Whitman displays his own distasteful opinions of war, most likely influenced by his personal experiences with it.
When first reading this poem, it is easy to see it as merely a description of the beating of drums. However, upon closer examination, it can be seen that, in the act of describing the drums as something that never ceases, Whitman is in fact describing them in a negative light. This can be seen in the drums interrupting such things as ‘the peaceful farmer…ploughing his field’, which is most definitely an activity that benefits society. The events which Whitman lists as being interrupted by the drums (and by war) can also be classified as normal occurrences of everyday life. In this list, Whitman highlights the idea that all aspects of life are affected by war, and that everyone in some way is influenced by it. Perhaps they may not be influenced in such a direct way as their wedding being interrupted, but in some way every individual in a society at war with itself is affected by the turmoil in their country.
Whitman makes his potent messages memorable by his ingenious use of literary techniques. The cadence of the poem itself echoes that of a drum, leaving readers hearing the beat of these ceaseless drums as they read it. Repetition (specifically the use of anaphora) also makes the poem memorable, and is reminiscent of the rhythm of a drum. This poem is essentially a representation of the march of war, and the fact that the poem ends on an open note, with the lines ‘so loud you bugles blow’, hints at the idea that this war will never end. When it does end, another war will come to take its place. Life is, essentially, a ceaseless, unstoppable march of death.