IndexIntroduction“The Wounder” and its ContextSocial Relations in the PoemThe NarratorThe WoundedThe AudienceConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionThroughout history, there are some incisive incidents that mark a period, resonate a new was or alter people's individual lives more drastically. One such episode is the American Civil War (1861-1865), fought over issues such as slavery, cultural differences, and political power (see Boyer et al., 230-319). “The Civil War, engulfing two economies and societies, extended far beyond the battlefields” (Boyer et al., 310), so its devastating and disastrous effect on the American people was inevitable. Ordinary men, women and children suddenly found themselves caught in the middle of a violent conflict that not only divided the nation, but also increasingly invaded the lives of families and in many cases even destroyed them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay For Walt Whitman, one of his first experiences involving the Civil War was the enlistment of his brothers George and Andrew, (see Folsom/Price , 77) while he himself concentrated on “writing some extensive newspaper articles on the Brooklyn story for the Brooklyn Daily Standard” (Folsom/Price, 77). Furthermore, "[h]e began visiting wounded soldiers who were removed to New York hospitals, and wrote about them in a series called 'City Photographs' which he published in the New York Leader in 1862" (Folsom/Price, 77) . When his brother George was wounded in combat, Whitman went looking for him and, once faced with the horror of casualties on the front lines, decided to stay and engage in hospital service or similar care (see Folsom/Price, 79-80). In his 1865 poem “The Wound-Dresser,” Whitman describes the work of a doctor during the war, recalling, to some extent, his personal experiences and impressions. This essay aims to focus on the emotional and social relationships in the poem, to highlight the characteristics of the narrator, the audience and the wounded, and to briefly indicate the literary allusions to Whitman's biography as they are reflected in the text. We will attempt to contextualize the poem by taking historical context into consideration and analyze the text with respect to its purpose as the author's way of dealing with his past and the past of the nation he loved so much. Wound-Dresser” and its contextAs part of Whitman’s “Civil War book Drum-Taps” (Folsom/Price, 80), “The Wound-Dresser” clearly emphasizes his need to express his emotions regarding the war, its victims and suffering that Whitman witnessed during his time with “young soldiers, both Union and Confederate” (Folsom/Price, 80). However, before reaching the moment described in the poem, Whitman himself had to go through a series of sufferings. In 1861, the publisher of the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass, Thayer and Eldridge, “declared bankruptcy and sold the Leaves plates to the Boston publisher Richard Worthington, who would continue to publish pirated copies of this edition for decades, creating difficulty Whitman every time he tries to market a new edition” (Folsom/Price, 76). Furthermore, while he was on his way to look for his brother, he "had his pockets emptied while changing trains, and arrived in Washington without a penny to his name" (Morris, 48). Fortunately his brother George was still alive (see Folsom/Price, 79; Morris, 50) and the suspicion that he had been mortally wounded (see Folsom/Price, 79) was not confirmed. Finally, Whitman's brother Andrew, who was “chronically ill” (Folsom/Price, 77) died in 1863, “probably oftuberculosis” (Folsom/Price, 77) and his brother Jesse had to be “committed to an asylum in 1864 after he physically assaulted his mother” (Folsom/Prise, 77). In the midst of these turbulent events, “The Wound-Dresser” is embedded, portraying only a momentary glimpse of Whitman's life and focusing, but not limiting itself, on the duties and tasks of a nurse and the humanitarian need to give consolation and to be a comfort for the most obvious victims of the war: the soldiers. This assiduity, however, had a strong negative effect on Whitman's health and condition, observable in the photographs of Alexander Gardner, "who admired Leaves of Grass and who photographed Whitman frequently during the war years" (Folsom/Price, 87). According to Folsom and Price, "[t]he Gardner photographs show a tired, somber, but very determined Whitman, who seemed to absorb not only the soldiers' stories but also their pain" (87). Furthermore, Loving states that “[t]he poet was most likely a carrier of latent tuberculosis, contracted from his brother Andrew, who died of illness in 1863, or from his sick soldiers in hospitals” (358). the poemOne of the central issues concerning the text of “The Wound-Dresser” is the complex structure of the interdependent relationships of the narrator and the other characters involved. In addition to a mere description of actions and reactions, the reader learns notions, affections and feelings of the protagonists and, therefore, acquires a profound insight into Whitman's emotional world. The text itself, which consists of 65 lines grouped into four stanzas and which lacks a constant meter and rhyme scheme, is set up as a mixture of narration and interior monologue: Whitman emphasizes that on the one hand he is "looking back response to children” (Whitman, 259: 2), while then still clinging to the situations of his memories as if reliving them. This dualism of time, space, and perspective becomes more evident when the reader is actively guided across the line between presence and past, between reality and retrospective. Once this limit was crossed, the audience became part of the social network and, therefore, part of the plot of the poem. The relationship between narrator/nurse and wounded man has been extended, at Whitman's invitation, by readers, to whom the author refers as "[...] you up there, / whoever you are [...]" (Whitman, 260 : 23f). The importance of the correlations between the characters becomes evident when Whitman isolates their individual feelings and emphasizes how they depend on each other in their struggle for knowledge and truth, survival and life, providing assistance and tending a hand with a helping hand. Therefore, the analysis of the particular positions taken by the characters in “The Wound-Dresser” provides a detailed insight into the network of influence taking and the resulting effects that are achieved. Their interactions, both as a group and as individual beings, mark their role in the author's memory and, to a certain extent, throughout the historical period constituted by the American Civil War and its political developments. Mancuso explains it like this: “[...] the images of broken families and soldiers' corpses suggest not simply the dissolution of the personal self in death but also, read as cultural texts, the dissolution of the constitutional pact with slavery. " (6). The NarratorAs the voice of the narrator, Whitman himself takes on the task of explaining his feelings and telling the audience and himself the circumstances of his time as a physician's assistant during the Civil War. At first requested and convinced by his audience imaginary, or “[...] girls and young men whom I love and who love me [...]” (Whitman, 159: 13) to “[...] be witnesses again, paint the most powerful armies on earth [ ...]” (Whitman, 259: 9) and to recount his experienceswith the wounded, he soon fully descends into the world of his memories, describing his actions, emotions and the scenario of the tense present. The way the narrator responds to his listeners' request to learn about the war implies that he sees it as his duty "[...] reprimand[ed] children in response [...]” (Whitman, 259: 2) and to “ [...] remember the sweet and sad experience [...]” (Whitman, 261: 63). Likewise, Whitman appears to be no less assiduous when it comes to his medical aid work: “Carrying the bandages”. , water and sponge, straight and fast I go towards my wounded,[............ ........]Or to the rows of the hospital tent, or to the hospital under the roof, To the long rows of cots up and down on each side I return, To each one in turn I approach, not one is missing [...]" (260, 25-31) Several plausible reasons can be offered for this impulse , the most obvious is charity. This hypothesis finds support in the text when Whitman says: “Un [soldier] turns his pleading eyes to me – poor boy! I never knew you, yet I think I could not refuse this moment of dying for you, if it could save you. .” (260:37f). His pleading interior monologues further delve into this theme, for example as he examines the bullet wound through "[...] the knight's neck [...]" (Whitman, 260: 41): "(Come sweet death! Leave you persuade, O beautiful Death! In mercy come quickly.)" (Whitman, 260: 44). Furthermore, the irreconcilability between Whitman's love for his country or, as Folsom and Price put it, his “faith in unity, in integrity, in the capacity of a self and a nation to contain contradictions and absorb diversity” (79) and the fact that he himself did not enlist to fight because “he was already in his forties when the war began” (Folsom/Price, 77) may have intensified, if not triggered, his efforts. The enormous value that the personal sacrifices of young people possess for Whitman is reflected in the fact that he mentions "their priceless blood [...]" (260: 28) and calls them "[...] unsurpassed heroes [.. .]” (259:8). Throughout the poem, the author does not judge or express his thoughts regarding the justification of both sides of the war, rather he unequivocally declares both sides of the conflict as "[...] equally courageous [...]" (259 : 8). However, there is a change in Whitman's way of acting. He begins as the "Watchful Soldier [...]" (Whitman, 260: 15) which is "[...] [a]rous' d and angry [...]" (Whitman, 259: 4) and ready “[...] to sound the alarm, and urge implacable war [...]” (Whitman, 259: 4) or to “ [...] dive in battle, to shout aloud in the heat of a successful charge [...]” (Whitman, 260: 16). lowered and I resigned myself to sitting next to the wounded and calming them, or to look at the dead in silence [. ..]” (259: 5f). Picker's conclusion that “Whitman abandons his enthusiastic drumbeat to address the disastrous wartime death toll” (7) supports this idea. Whether this change in mood is based on his change in age and the fact that he is becoming "[a]n stooping old man [...]" (Whitman, 259:1), his increased awareness of the value of human life and of the “[...] priceless blood [...]” (Whitman, 260: 28) that is abandoned or simply because it is deemed more important “[...] to pacify with a soothing hand [...]” ( Whitman, 261: 61) remains speculative. Of indisputable certainty, however, is Whitman's love and compassion for both his listeners and the wounded soldiers of whom he speaks. He calls his audience “[...] maidens and young men whom I love and who love me [...]” (Whitman, 259: 13) and the soldiers' reactions to his care blendin the observation that “[. ..] [m]any soldier's loving arms around [Whitman's] neck have crossed and rested, / Many a soldier's kiss lingers on these bearded lips. [...]” (Whitman, 261: 64f). This framework of emotional bonds finds its social counterpart in the different modes of interdependence between the groups of protagonists with the narrator in a central position. The children about whom the author is about to talk are quoted as follows:“Come and tell us old man [...][.................................]What remains with you the last and deepest? of curious panic, of battles fought or of terrible sieges how much deeper would you be?" (Whitman, 259: 3-12). Both the children and the soldiers seem grateful for the author's help, whether it is to tell his story, to give comfort or simply to heal the wounds. However, this gratitude is reciprocated through the patience with which Whitman satisfies the requests made to him. The wounded The soldiers are the substance of the poem, they and the management of their suffering are the central themes of Whitman's report. The author accompanies each of them from the moment they are led «[...] after the battle [...]» (Whitman, 260: 27) and guides them, if necessary, until the last minute to stay with them even after death and to “[...] watch silently [...]” (Whitman, 259: 6) over them. The emotional range of wounded soldiers varies from fright and from fear to the desire for interpersonal contact to calm desperation and resignation. The soldier with "[...] the crushed head [...]" (Whitman, 260: 40) could be seen to symbolize frenetic terror and anguish of the injured person who is about to go beyond the limit of madness due to a painful shock inflicted and to which Whitman addresses his wish in his mind “[...] poor crazy hand, don't tear off the bandage [...] ” (Whitman, 260: 40). Likewise, the desire for emotional interaction with the narrator is evident in the young man who “[…] turns his pleading eyes to [him] […]” (Whitman, 260: 37). Finally, the soldier with "[...] his amputated hand [...]" (Whitman, 261: 45) personifies the anguish and desperation inherent in the victims of war as we learn that "[h]is eyes are closed, his face is pale, he dares not look at the bloody stump, / [and] he hasn't looked at it yet. (Whitman, 261: 48f). Beyond the simple physical care that soldiers are given, they also receive what may be as important to their souls as medical care is to their survival: "The wounded and wounded whom I [Whitman] pacify with soothing hand, I sit next to the restless throughout the dark night [...]” (Whitman, 261: 60f) And further: “[...] I have resigned myself, to sit next to the wounded and calm them [...]” ( Whitman,259: 5f). In return for this honest compassion, they react with loving gratitude and even seem to adopt the author as a kind of father figure: "[...] by Whitman] have crossed and rested, the kiss of many soldiers lingers on these bearded lips [...]” (Whitman, 261: 64f). and the wounded soldiers, yet the coincidence between the listeners being called “[...] young men and maidens [...]” (Whitman, 259: 3) while the reader learns about the soldiers that “[...] some are so young [...]” (Whitman, 261: 62) indicates an intended analogy that closes the circle of audience, narrator and subject of the poem (the soldiers). The audience The protagonist group that mainly represents the readers' journey through the poem is certainly that of the imaginary listeners of Whitman's representation. Both literary and real audiences are in the same position, they want to know the story., 2000.