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Drum-Taps and Memoranda During the War
Walt Whitman experienced first-hand the ravages of the Civil War as a volunteer nurse in the hospitals of Washington D.C. During that time, he filled notebooks with “impromptu jottings” that became the basis of two works: Drum-Taps, a collection of 71 poems including When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and O’ Captain My Captain, and Memoranda During the War, an intimate diary of his experience tending to the sick and dying during the war.
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First published March 15, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 3, 2023
To find beauty in such despair - in Memoranda Whitman vists dying soldiers - men who fought on both sides of the Civil War. He writes letters for them, gives them small amounts of cash for items they need...and stays by their side as they die. If you know of a doctor or nurse dealing with the pain of loss as their patients die of COVID then I can think of no better voice to echo hope as we come full circle. In Drum-Taps Whitman breaks down the lure of war better than anyone else I have ever read; the passages where flags 'speak' to a young boy sent shivers down my spine - taking me back to what just happened in our capital as 'vexillogic tongues' sang songs of shadowed past and shaded present. Thank you Bronson Pinchot for your inspired reading - highest recommendation.
March 7, 2016
Whitman did us all a great service in recording some of his key experiences during the Civil War, whether in memorandum form or as poem. Also, the vantage point of that of being a civilian onlooker and from within the setting of military hospitals was a different angle for me. One of his thoughts that is still reverberating with me is the idea that all of the war, all of its totality of parts and pieces, were but flanges (extensions) of the military hospitals, as if the whole purpose of conducting this horrible enterprise must surely have been to set up and operate houses of suffering, dying and death.
For those who are quick to see war as a fix-all solution to the world's problems, this should be a prerequisite reading. The poems which remembered Lincoln at the time of his murder and burial were especially moving: "O Captain, My Captain!"; "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"; and "Hushed be the Camps To-Day".
The memorandum about the Salisbury Prison were interesting to me, being from North Carolina. What a brutal place! Apparently most of the Northern Prisoners died horrible deaths in that camp.
Whitman celebrates the bravery of the soldiers and ultimately says that both sides were to blame for the conflict. As demonic as the institution of slavery was, the South, he says, had other legitimate grievances against the North which the North refused to address. The historians will have to debate the nuances of that topic, but it's hard to fathom that one side could be totally righteous/right and the other side wholly unrighteous/wrong. One thing is certain, Whitman gives us vivid snapshots of the suffering, the bravery, the dying, and the death of this bloody war.
Dennis McFarland, one of my favorite authors, wrote a book called Nostalgia, published in 2013, which has a Civil War soldier with PTSD (not well known about at the time) who ends up in a hospital where Walt Whitman is making visits and the two begin a friendship. This is where I first learned about Whitman's visits to wounded military personnel. He wrote many letters for soldiers, paid many visits, supplied stamps and paper to soldiers so they could correspond with folks back home, brought "trifles" to the soldiers (snacks, apples, plums, etc.), small treats in an effort to bring some minimal amount of relief/joy. He would read books, converse, or sit silently and hold a hand, in addition to helping change bandages and assisting hospital doctors and nurses in caring for the wounded soldiers. Along the way, he collected their stories of battle and of their lives before the war. You will get a sense of an attentive observer who, instead of remaining numb and speechless at the horror he witnessed, spoke out/wrote down what he saw and heard. Well worth your time to mediate upon these verses.
For those who are quick to see war as a fix-all solution to the world's problems, this should be a prerequisite reading. The poems which remembered Lincoln at the time of his murder and burial were especially moving: "O Captain, My Captain!"; "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"; and "Hushed be the Camps To-Day".
The memorandum about the Salisbury Prison were interesting to me, being from North Carolina. What a brutal place! Apparently most of the Northern Prisoners died horrible deaths in that camp.
Whitman celebrates the bravery of the soldiers and ultimately says that both sides were to blame for the conflict. As demonic as the institution of slavery was, the South, he says, had other legitimate grievances against the North which the North refused to address. The historians will have to debate the nuances of that topic, but it's hard to fathom that one side could be totally righteous/right and the other side wholly unrighteous/wrong. One thing is certain, Whitman gives us vivid snapshots of the suffering, the bravery, the dying, and the death of this bloody war.
Dennis McFarland, one of my favorite authors, wrote a book called Nostalgia, published in 2013, which has a Civil War soldier with PTSD (not well known about at the time) who ends up in a hospital where Walt Whitman is making visits and the two begin a friendship. This is where I first learned about Whitman's visits to wounded military personnel. He wrote many letters for soldiers, paid many visits, supplied stamps and paper to soldiers so they could correspond with folks back home, brought "trifles" to the soldiers (snacks, apples, plums, etc.), small treats in an effort to bring some minimal amount of relief/joy. He would read books, converse, or sit silently and hold a hand, in addition to helping change bandages and assisting hospital doctors and nurses in caring for the wounded soldiers. Along the way, he collected their stories of battle and of their lives before the war. You will get a sense of an attentive observer who, instead of remaining numb and speechless at the horror he witnessed, spoke out/wrote down what he saw and heard. Well worth your time to mediate upon these verses.
February 11, 2025
Really fascinating memoir of Whitman's years during the civil war, sitting at the bedsides of wounded and dying soldiers. My favorite parts were the first-hand accounts of seeing and interacting with Lincoln. Great follow up to a biography of Lincoln.
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June 26, 2011Drum-Taps and Memoranda During the War, by Walt Whitman, Narrated by Bronson Pinchot, produced by Audiogo, downloaded from audible.com.
This is a collection of Walt Whitman’s jottings when he was a volunteer nurse in Washington D.C. during the Civil War. Very good descriptions of the ravages of war, plus witness testimony of other events of the day, such as Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in the Ford Theater. I didn’t think Bronson Pinchot was the best narrator for this book. But it was a memorable book nonetheless.
This is a collection of Walt Whitman’s jottings when he was a volunteer nurse in Washington D.C. during the Civil War. Very good descriptions of the ravages of war, plus witness testimony of other events of the day, such as Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in the Ford Theater. I didn’t think Bronson Pinchot was the best narrator for this book. But it was a memorable book nonetheless.
April 2, 2011
Must read.
Amazon Review:
Walt Whitman experienced first-hand the ravages of the Civil War as a volunteer nurse in the hospitals of Washington D.C. During that time, he filled notebooks with "impromptu jottings" that became the basis of two works: Drum-Taps, a collection of 71 poems, and Memoranda During the War, an intimate diary of his experience tending to the sick and dying during the war.
Amazon Review:
Walt Whitman experienced first-hand the ravages of the Civil War as a volunteer nurse in the hospitals of Washington D.C. During that time, he filled notebooks with "impromptu jottings" that became the basis of two works: Drum-Taps, a collection of 71 poems, and Memoranda During the War, an intimate diary of his experience tending to the sick and dying during the war.
October 20, 2014
Beautiful poems but also beautiful notations. In the latter, you see how the poetic mind works situations- in experience and in wording. Here, I find proof that Whitman lived his poetry- felt and perceived in poetic terms and never let a word leave his hand without that touch of magic. He didn't have to work for the words, even when he wasn't writing "poetry" it was still very poetic.
December 29, 2011
Memoranda During the War consists of Walt Whitman's experiences in the hospitals of the Union during the Civil War. Drum-Taps (which I humorously initially mistyped as Dum-Taps) is a collection of his war poems. Despite the title, Memoranda During the War comes first on the audiobook, which I think is stupid.
Memoranda During the War is interesting, assuming you are curious about the conditions of the Civil War. My one history course that spent a time focusing on that conflict would have benefited from these reminiscences perhaps more than from some of the books we did read (or were supposed to read). However, given its construction, which is just a series of short vignettes, it's a bit awkward to listen to. In audiobook form, it was hard to pick up on what exactly was going on. Instead, a sense of the blood, the guts, the pain and the terrible things that constantly happened just sort of washed over me. Maybe that's good, but I'm not sure. Certainly, I got an idea of the mood and the conditions, if not specific instances.
Drum-Taps I did not like at all. I suppose I should inform you that I am not a fan of poetry. Obviously, some poetry I do like, Shakespeare's sonnets (some of them) for example, but, mostly, I find prose to be much more beautiful. Anyway, I especially do not care for Whitman, or at least not when read by this guy. And, in audio format, poems are worse it seems. Poetry needs to be chewed on a little more, and listening to someone plow through poem after poem does not give time for appreciation. One definite failing of Whitman in this format is that he is one of those poets who almost always titles his poem whatever happens to be the first line, meaning that you have to hear that line twice. Many times. Ugh.
Even worse, there was a message saying this portion was over, but it was just a tease, because there were many more poems. fml.
I have already intimated that I did not care for this narrator. My problem with Pinchot is primarily his accent. I don't care for the sound of his voice either, but that could just be me, so I won't harp on that. However, his accent is really distracting. He has a bit of a Jersey or New York sound to him (I don't know which). This means that 'er' tends to be come 'ah,' as in the case of mothah. I just can't take that seriously. Any time he dropped some serious dialect, I would start laughing, even though the content is sad.
Also, I looked at the two books herein contained just a little bit, trying to figure out what the format was, because, as I mentioned, it was a bit confusing to listen to without preparation. In the short time I spent doing so, I found two words he swapped for different ones (i. e. 'these' instead of 'those'). They didn't really make a change in content, but I do know you're not supposed to do that as a narrator.
Memoranda During the War is interesting, assuming you are curious about the conditions of the Civil War. My one history course that spent a time focusing on that conflict would have benefited from these reminiscences perhaps more than from some of the books we did read (or were supposed to read). However, given its construction, which is just a series of short vignettes, it's a bit awkward to listen to. In audiobook form, it was hard to pick up on what exactly was going on. Instead, a sense of the blood, the guts, the pain and the terrible things that constantly happened just sort of washed over me. Maybe that's good, but I'm not sure. Certainly, I got an idea of the mood and the conditions, if not specific instances.
Drum-Taps I did not like at all. I suppose I should inform you that I am not a fan of poetry. Obviously, some poetry I do like, Shakespeare's sonnets (some of them) for example, but, mostly, I find prose to be much more beautiful. Anyway, I especially do not care for Whitman, or at least not when read by this guy. And, in audio format, poems are worse it seems. Poetry needs to be chewed on a little more, and listening to someone plow through poem after poem does not give time for appreciation. One definite failing of Whitman in this format is that he is one of those poets who almost always titles his poem whatever happens to be the first line, meaning that you have to hear that line twice. Many times. Ugh.
Even worse, there was a message saying this portion was over, but it was just a tease, because there were many more poems. fml.
I have already intimated that I did not care for this narrator. My problem with Pinchot is primarily his accent. I don't care for the sound of his voice either, but that could just be me, so I won't harp on that. However, his accent is really distracting. He has a bit of a Jersey or New York sound to him (I don't know which). This means that 'er' tends to be come 'ah,' as in the case of mothah. I just can't take that seriously. Any time he dropped some serious dialect, I would start laughing, even though the content is sad.
Also, I looked at the two books herein contained just a little bit, trying to figure out what the format was, because, as I mentioned, it was a bit confusing to listen to without preparation. In the short time I spent doing so, I found two words he swapped for different ones (i. e. 'these' instead of 'those'). They didn't really make a change in content, but I do know you're not supposed to do that as a narrator.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews