The Beat

The poem “Beat! Beat! Drums!” supports Neely’s claim. The poem and the word usage represents a man that is proud of his country, but doesn’t mention the emancipation of slavery, nor does he rejoice of it directly anywhere in the poem. The patriotism is quite evident in the forcefulness of the stanzas and the constant exclamation points. I don’t necessarily think that his lack of mentioning the slavery issue makes him not care about it though. He is a strong believer of the union and a strong national government which makes me believe that he would support anti-slavery and the emancipation proclamation. The reason I think it supports Neely’s claim is his lack of mentioning the emancipated and his abundance of references of the common man such as brokers, lawyers, mothers, children, and farmers. As I read the poem it reminded me of a show on the history channel. I could just envision this poem being read and the panning and cutting of the camera from one citizen to the next.
Whitman seemed to be more of a Timrod to me with a Horton soul. Timrod didn’t make a clear stance on what he believed in throughout “The Cotton Boll” while Horton was very direct in his beliefs about the runaway and the realities of war. Whitman said “make no parley, stop for no expostulation, mind not the timid, mind not the weeper or prayer,”. This sentence explored the heart that Whitman was trying to get across. He is saying that no one is stopping for a meeting or earnest protest, but just going on their way and not caring of the people affected. Overall, I think Whitman is being judged to harshly by Neely just because of his lack of diary findings.