The Wound-Dresser
Project description
Read the poems and answer the questions for each. Walt Whitman, “The Wound-Dresser” Online Text
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/237970
The poem describes a rare viewpoint of the soldiers and healers during the American Civil War. At first a proponent for the war, Walt Whitman soon came to comprehend
the pain and suffering of the soldiers and devoted himself to helping and comforting them as a volunteer nurse. Within the poem, the speaker is being asked by a group
of interested youngsters to share his experiences during the war, and he paints an image that contrasts the common depictions of war then and still today.
Section 1:
Note: “The Wound Dresser” frequently confuses students because of the repeated use of an interior monologue which is set off by placing the narrator’s thoughts in
parenthesis.
Moreover, in section one there are two to three voices interwoven together. Consider the parenthetical statements an interior monologue that interrupts the question
beginning, “Come tell us old man . . . .” First read the questioning voice alone so you see the question clearly. The interior thoughts will be easier to understand
that way.
1. Why is the narrator “looking backward” according to section I? What other reason might one have to look backward on one’s war experiences?
2. What attitude or outlook on the war would you attribute to the “children” who question the old man? Be sure to quote specific words or phrases that support your
inference.
3. Twice the narrator has an inward reflection within the children’s question. What change in himself does he document in the first parenthetical statement?
4. In the second parenthetical statement, how does the old man respond to the language of the question, to the “children’s” vision of war, to their notion of
“unsurpass’d heroes” and the “mightiest armies of earth.”
5. Restate the question that is asked in a simple but accurate sentence.
Section 2:
6. In the beginning of the narrator’s response (lines 14-20) which characteristics of war and battle are being emphasized?
7. What fades like a “swift-running river”?
8. Explain what does the phrase “in silence, in dreams’ projections” might mean? (If you don’t know at first, come back to this question. Watch for repetition of the
phrase.)
9. What is meant by “While the world of gain and appearance and mirth goes on”?
10. Explain what the imagery “waves wash the imprints off the sand” refers to.
11. Why are his knees “hinged”? What “doors” are opening?
12. Once again, we see an interior monologue set off by parenthesis. Who “must follow without noise”? Why must they “be of strong heart”?
Section 3:
13. In section 3 the narrator starts to answer, begins “resuming, in answer to children” by describing his wartime service to the wounded. Which images and language
strike you most vividly? Are any details painful to read? Can you visualize the hospital; can you imagined it on film?
14. In Whitman’s day, many reader’s felt that hospitals, corpses, and pails filled with “clotted rags and blood,” were not fit subjects for poetry. What do you think?
15. Why is the phrase “hinged knees” repeated?
16. Why is the line “Come, sweet death! be persuaded, O beautiful death! / In mercy come quickly” encased in parenthesis? Why would death be “sweet” or “beautiful”?
17. Note how this section ends. Explain the point of the emotional contrast between the “impassive hand” and the “burning flame” within.
Section 4:
18. In section 4 the narrator clarifies for the reader what he means by “dreams’ projections.” Return to section one and review the question of the young people; also,
return to section 2 to see what he says fades from memory. What, then, in the end, has stayed with the narrator “latest and deepest?”
19.Read the last section again. Is this poem arising truly from the questions of young people, or does the wound dresser “resume” of his own accord?
20. Why would the soldiers wish to hug the narrator, to kiss him? Why is the memory “sweet and sad”?
Overview:
21. What is the role of the nurse?
22. Has this changed?
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