Is The Wound-Dresser: A Story Of Compassion?

Analysis of the Wound-Dresser: A Story of Compassion

In Walt Whitman’s poem, "The Wound-Dresser," Whitman uses vivid descriptions and the utilization of a first-person point-of-view to give his readers a picture of the emotional and physical toll of war on the soldiers and those who care for them. While many war stories talk of triumphant heroes and the heroic deeds they perform, Whitman’s description of a simple wound dresser and the death they see gives the audience a grimmer, yet realistic idea of the horrors of battle. Like many of Whitman’s poems, "The Wound-Dresser" relies on his unique and unorthodox style of free verse that also incorporates repetition and anaphora to fully flesh out a story riddled with emotion, sorrow, and hope. In

In the first three lines of the poem, a picture of an old man surrounded by curious children is painted. The beginning of the story starts out as most war stories do, with the excited questioning of the young about acts of valor and bravery, but as the narrator recalls, these memories are not fond. The wound-dresser says, "Arous'd and angry, I'd thought to beat the alarum, and urge relentless war, / But soon my fingers fail'd me, my face droop'd and I resign'd myself, / To sit by the wounded and soothe them, or silently watch the dead" (Whitman, lines 4-6). In this text, the narrator refers to how his perspective on war has changed. He once had excitement and fire in his belly about the prospect of war, but with maturity, he was able to see the consequences that result from it. In lines 8-12, the narrator tells the kids to imagine a war themselves. He goes even further to ask them questions such as whether one side was good and one side was bad or whether they were both fighting for what they believed in. The true meaning of this first section isn't just the narrator explaining his present setting and those around him but also asking the reader as well as the children to think about the true intricacies of war. In any conflict, both sides take losses, and those lost lives must be

While this section does focus on this concept, a further analysis of the text also shows that, while grim, this section is also overflowing with hope and compassion. The narrator says, "Hard the breathing rattles, quite glazed already the eye, yet life struggles hard, / (Come sweet death! be persuaded O beautiful death! / In mercy come quickly)" (Whitman, lines 42-44). Even in death, the narrator has compassion for this mortally wounded individual. This juxtaposition of the narrator caring so much for the wounded soldier with the crushed head, that he wishes for the release of death, goes to show just how complex war is. The continuing theme of resilience is seen once again in this section not only by the wounded but also by the narrator. He says, "On, on, I go... I am faithful, I do not give out, / The fractured thigh, the knee, the wound in the abdomen, / These and more I dress with impassive hand, (yet deep in my breast a fire, a burning flame)" (Whitman, lines 39, 56-58). These are all complete strangers to the wound-dresser, yet he has such compassion and care for them that he describes the feeling as "a burning flame," continuing the theme of valuing human