Drum-Taps, is a collection of poetry written by American poet Walt
Whitman during the American Civil War, published in 1865. Eighteen more
poems were added later in the year to make Sequel to Drum-Taps. In the
first group of poems, Whitman shows both eagerness and doubts in regard
to the close conflict. These poems also reveal Whitman's trust that this
war is a good thing for American ideals. It is the complete Civil War
poem collection, including the celebrated, "Oh, Captain, My Captain!"
and expanded with Whitman's essays from the period on subjects such as
Secession, Abraham Lincoln, working in the Civil War hospitals, and the
murder of the president. Whitman begins in a glorious mode. These
victorious poems seem to reflect an excitement in the nation as a whole
that evil would be defeat by good. Drum-Taps perhaps comes closest to
naming the concern that Whitman feels for his country and for his
society. It included poems that bother witness to the violence of war
with a sense of closeness and fear. The mood of the poetry moves for
enthusiasm at the falling-in and equipping of the young soldiers at the
beginning of the war to the disturbed recognition of the war's true
importance.
