Drum-Taps

April 1, 2015
Incredible as it seems, this is the first new editionindeed, the first reprintingof one of the most important books about one of the most important eras by one of the most important authors in American history. Initially freestanding from Leaves of Grass, Drum-Taps wound up with its contents scattered throughout the omnibus collection; less than half its poems are in the Leaves section entitled Drum-Taps. The master-subject of the smaller book is the Civil War, from the execution of John Brown to the assassination of Lincoln, and to read it is to witness with Whitman all but the battles. Despite his own ardent abolitionism, the poet embraced Lincoln's representation of the war as a struggle to preserve the Union. Hence, slavery is seldom mentioned; rather, the adhesive love of comrades, North and South, is the dominant note of these poems' melody as they mourn the fallen and project the triumph of democracy in America and universally, characteristically in cascades of brilliant, full-color imagery such as none of Whitman's disciples has ever equaled.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)