Walt Whitman

[David Lockmiller]

Walt Whitman

The New York Times reports today: "Tomorrow we celebrate the 200th birthday of the American literary giant who sought to bring his rhythmic prose-poetry to the masses."

When [Whitman] lived in Washington during the Civil War, he wrote of the wounded in military hospitals for several New York papers, including the New York Times.

Steve Griffith - Oakland, CA (comment to story published by New York Times on Oct. 24, 2018)

Whenever I enter or exit the DuPont Metro station in Washington, D.C., I am struck and touched by these Whitman lines from his Civil War poem, “The Wound Dresser,” inscribed into the surrounding curved granite walls: ....I thread my way through the hospitals; The hurt and 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 and sad.

When Walt Whitman Reported for the New York Times

Be sure to follow the last hyperlink in this story to Whitman's New York Times story published August 16, 1863 (a month and a half following the Battle of Gettysburg).

[Gene C]

That was an interesting link David. Thank you for posting it.

In one of the links to your post- "he painted a honest image"

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesma...523253.pdf

Washington In the Hot Season
A great example from the Times of what Whitman wrote. If you don't want to read it all, at least read 'A Scene In A Hospital', that begins in the bottom left column.
There are two songs mentioned in that section of Whitman's article. I could only find a good recording of this one song, probably very much like the soldiers in the hospital heard it
- The Shining Shore - as you listen to the song, read the above link and the reaction of the soldiers as they listened to the women singing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDjLLhFqZOA

[David Lockmiller]

(05-31-2019 03:54 PM)Gene C Wrote:  Washington In the Hot Season
A great example from the Times of what Whitman wrote. If you don't want to read it all, at least read 'A Scene In A Hospital', that begins in the bottom left column.

Two quotes from the New York Times article by Walt Whitman that I want to share:

Such were the fine and vivifying songs these girls sang there for all our sakes, until quite late in the night. The sounds and scene altogether have made an indelible impression on my memory.

I find it so refreshing to talk with these hardy, bright, intuitive, American young men (experienced soldiers with all their youth.) . . . [T]here hangs something majestic about a man who has borne his part in battles, especially if he is very quiet regarding it when you desire him to unbosom. I am continually lost at the absence of blowing and blowers among these old-young American militaires.