“Beat! Beat! Drums!” Introduction

• The American poet Walt Whitman published "Beat! Beat! Drums!" in 1861, shortly after the first major battle of the Civil War. The poem directly addresses the instruments of a military band, telling drums and bugle horns to raise the alarm of war. These instruments, the speaker says, should tear through society like a "ruthless force," making it impossible for everyday life to continue. War is a terrible, violent, chaotic force that upends everyday life. But, for the speaker, this is how it must be: the poem is a patriotic call to arms and a passionate rallying cry, underscoring the immense, earth-shattering importance of the Union's cause.

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“Beat! Beat! Drums!” Summary

• You military drums, pound away! And you bugle horns, blow as loudly as you can! Let your noise rush through windows and doors like an unstoppable, pitiless force, into quiet churches where it'll send worshipers running off in different directions, and into classrooms where students are trying to focus on their work. Interrupt the quiet of grooms on their wedding day, making sure they can't focus on simply enjoying themselves with their new brides. And don't let quiet farmers have any moments of peace while cultivating their crops. This is how unrelenting and ear-piercing your pounding must be, drums, and how harsh your sound must be, bugle horns.

  You military drums, pound away! And you bugle horns, blow as loudly as you can! Drown out the sound of city traffic, with all those carriage wheels rumbling down the streets. Are there beds ready in hotels for people to climb into at night? Then nobody must be allowed to actually fall asleep in them. Businesspeople in the marketplace—are they trying to go on trading? Are people still talking? Are singers still trying to sing? Is the lawyer still getting up in court to present an argument to a judge? Well then, drums, you must just beat harder and faster, and you bugles must blast even louder.

  You military drums, pound away! And you bugle horns, blow as loudly as you can! Don't stop to reconsider what you're doing. Pay no attention to hesitant people who cry and pray, and pay no attention to old men pleading with young men. Drown out children's voices and their mothers' pleas. Play so loudly that the tables holding dead bodies shake while the bodies wait to be hauled into hearses. This is how forcefully you should beat, drums, and how deafeningly you should roar, bugle horns.

“Beat! Beat! Drums!” Themes

• The Vital Disruptiveness of War

  Written after the first battle of the Civil War, “Beat! Beat! Drums!” illustrates war's potential—and perhaps its necessary potential—to disrupt practically every aspect of daily life. Walt Whitman was a fervent supporter of the Union, and here his speaker tells the drums of a military band to sound the alarm of war in a way that will make it impossible to ignore. In doing so, the speaker frames the war as a “ruthless force” capable of stopping the country in its tracks. War affects everything—but for a cause this vital, the poem implies, that is the cost that the country must be willing pay.

  The speaker wants the drums and bugles to blast through “solemn church[es],” “peaceful” farmlands, and quiet houses. In many ways, then, this poem is a passionate call to action: by insisting that the sounds of war interfere with the workings of daily life, the speaker indicates that nothing must drown out the war. Its cause is too vital to ignore.

  At the same time, the poem does not present war itself as remotely pleasant; instead, it is violent, chaotic, and horrifying. The fact that the drums and bugles interrupt so many positive activities shows war’s harmful effect on society. The sound of the drums, the speaker says, will burst into “the school where the scholar is studying.” This means the war will keep people from learning. It will also interrupt marriages, prevent “bargainers” from trading, and keep lawyers from defending their clients. Even "the dead" must be rattled by war's drums—an image that conveys the awful, yet imperative, nature of this war. This war doesn't just demand attention, but must overshadow everything else in society; the fight to keep the country together matters that much. The poem is therefore both a rallying cry and an acknowledgment of the many ways in which war unsettles society. By refusing to shy away from the terrible, destructive nature of war, the poem underscores the immense importance of the Union's fight.

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Beat! Beat! Drums!”

• Lines 1-4

  Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
  Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force,
  Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,
  Into the school where the scholar is studying,

  The poem opens with apostrophe, as the speaker directly addresses the instruments of a military band. The speaker enthusiastically tells drums and bugle horns to "beat" and "blow"—that is, to boldly announce their presence by making lots of noise. The poem was composed shortly after the Civil War's first battle, and Whitman supported the Union's cause. The opening line thus reads as a passionate rallying cry.

  The poem's opening line is energetic and attention-grabbing, thanks to the alliteration of the /b/ sound, repetition (specifically epizeuxis and diacope), and caesuras. These devices add a strong rhythmic pulse to the poem's language that mimics the sound of forceful drumbeats:

  Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!

  These intense sounds convey the alarming disruption that comes along with war. For example, the speaker says that the noises of the military band "burst" through "windows" and "doors," as if nothing can keep the war at bay. The speaker uses a simile to build on this idea, comparing the war to a "ruthless force" that interrupts and overshadows everything in its path.

  In keeping with this, the speaker describes the sounds of war tearing through "the solemn church," where it "scatter[s] the congregation." This is another example of how disruptive war can be, as it has the power to break into even the most sacred places (like church) and send the most calm, devoted people (a religious congregation) running in different directions. In other words, war turns peace and serenity into chaos.

  Still, the speaker encourages the drums and bugles to interrupt everyday life. In this way, the poem implies that people shouldn't just go about their normal lives while war takes shape. The poem at once urges people to pay attention to the Civil War while acknowledging its horror and ability to grind society to a halt.

• Lines 5-7

  Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride,
  Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain,
  So fierce you whirr and pound you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.

  

  

• Lines 8-11

  Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
  Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets;
  Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep in those beds,
  No bargainers’ bargains by day—no brokers or speculators—would they continue?

  

  

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• Lines 12-14

  Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?
  Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge?
  Then rattle quicker, heavier drums—you bugles wilder blow.

  

  

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• Lines 15-18

  Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
  Make no parley—stop for no expostulation,
  Mind not the timid—mind not the weeper or prayer,
  Mind not the old man beseeching the young man,

  

  

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• Lines 19-21

  Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties,
  Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses,
  So strong you thump O terrible drums—so loud you bugles blow.

  

  

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“Beat! Beat! Drums!” Symbols

• The Bugles and Drums

  The bugles and drums that the speaker beseeches through the poem symbolize war itself—and, more specifically, its terrifying and disruptive nature. The speaker doesn’t sugarcoat war’s violence and ability to grind daily life to a halt; those bugles and drums are relentless, drowning out peace and calm. Their sounds are "shrill" and "terrible"; they "rattle" and "pound." Yet in telling these instruments to ring out clearly and “ruthlessly,” the speaker is arguing for the incredible importance of this fight. Nothing must stand in the way of the Union's cause; everything will be, and must be, affected. No part of society can sit idly by as the country fights for unity and freedom.

  • See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“Beat! Beat! Drums!” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Refrain

  "Beat! Beat! Drums!" is bursting with repetition, which makes the poem sound emphatic and forceful. The most obvious repetition is the poem's refrain, which appears in the first line of each stanza:

  Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!

  Over and over again, the speaker calls on these instruments to ring out—to relentlessly and insistently "burst like a ruthless force" into everyday life. The use of the refrain thus adds to the poem's passionate tone.

  Note that there's also repetition within that refrain itself. There's the epizeuxis of the word "beat" as well as the diacope of "blow! bugles! blow!" Together, these repetitions make the poem's refrain ring out powerfully and memorably. The speaker is just not calling on these instruments to make a brief appearance but rather to boldly declare themselves again and again.

  The poem's use of parallelism works alongside its refrain to make the speaker's instructions feel more forceful still. Each stanza returns to the sound of those instruments, once again calling on them to ring out and interrupt daily life. There is no escape from these sounds, just as there must be no escape from this war.

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• Anaphora

  

  
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• Apostrophe

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

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• Rhetorical Question

  

  

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• Polyptoton

  

  

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"Beat! Beat! Drums!" Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Bugles
• Ruthless
• Solemn
• Congregation
• Bridegroom
• Ploughing
• Whirr
• Shrill
• Bargainers
• Brokers
• Speculators
• Parley
• Expostulation
• Beseeching
• Entreaties
• Trestles
• Hearses

• The bugle horn is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet. They were used in military bands in the Civil War to help deliver marching orders on the battlefield. They were also frequently used in military parades.

  • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Beat! Beat! Drums!”

• Form

  "Beat! Beat! Drums!" consists of 21 lines divided into three stanzas, each of which contain seven lines. This is not a traditional poetic form, but it does lend the poem a slight sense of order, even if the lines themselves vary in length.

  The poem also sounds consistent and somewhat organized because of the speaker's use of the refrain, "Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!", which appears at the beginning of each stanza. This gives the speaker's language a cohesive, ordered sound that lends musicality to the poem. The speaker also uses parallelism in the final line of each stanza, echoing the refrain and further adding to the poem's pleasingly musical quality.

  Other than the refrain, the speaker's use of parallelism, and the equal-length stanzas, the only other formal element holding the poem together is the speaker's frequent use of smaller kinds of repetition (like, for instance, anaphora). Taken together, these things give the poem a sense of intensity and urgency without compromising its sprawling, spontaneous character.

• Meter

  Like most of Walt Whitman's famous poems, "Beat! Beat! Drums!" uses free verse. That means it doesn't use a steady meter or rhyme scheme. Its rhythms vary quite a bit; for example, the poem's refrain is short and punchy, while other lines are long and sprawling. This flexibility helps the poem's language feel like a heightened version of everyday speech rather than stiffly metered, old-fashioned poetry. Whitman was one of the pioneers of free verse poetry, and, at the time it was published, "Beat! Beat! Drums!" would have had a distinctly American sound.

  Let's look at some scansion to see this free verse in action. Line 1 consists of just seven syllables, six of which are stressed. As such, it has a very forceful, staccato rhythm. Line 2, meanwhile, contains 12 syllables and a lot more rhythmic variation:

  Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
  Through the windows—through the doors—burst like a ruthless force,

  Here and throughout the poem, free verse keeps things feeling, well, free: informed more by emotion than a need to align to any set pattern of stressed beats.

• Rhyme Scheme

  The poem uses free verse, so it doesn't follow a rhyme scheme. Whitman was considered the father of free verse, and the lack of rhyme scheme here marks a distinct break from the rigid patterns of traditional European poetry. Instead of relying on regular rhyme, "Beat! Beat! Drums!" finds its rousing music through poetic devices like repetition, alliteration, consonance, and assonance.

“Beat! Beat! Drums!” Speaker

• The poem doesn't contain any identifying information about the speaker. Instead, the speaker is an anonymous voice calling out to the instruments of a military band.

  That said, one can take the speaker as a stand-in for the poet himself. Though he feared the destructive potential of the Civil War, Walt Whitman also opposed slavery and was a fervent supporter of the Union. The speaker of this poem clearly sees this fight as both devastating and inescapable. The speaker understands that war is a profoundly disruptive force, one that's capable of bringing everything in society to a complete standstill. And yet, they also insist that this war must interrupt everything and it must make everyone pay attention. The Union's mission is so important, the poem implies, that it must not stop for anyone or anything.

“Beat! Beat! Drums!” Setting

• Though it's never stated outright in the poem, "Beat! Beat! Drums!" takes place during the American Civil War. Walt Whitman wrote the poem shortly after the Battle of Bull Run in 1861. This was the first major battle of the Civil War, and this is essential to understanding the poem's context: this was a time marked by anxiety and tension, as news from the front lines began to reach places like Brooklyn (where Whitman lived). Readers might imagine the poem's characters—people like the farmer and bridegroom—as living in relative isolation from the conflict, perhaps in a northern city, where the war's horrors have yet to fully reach. The speaker calls on the sounds of war to ring out even there, however—to make everyone pay attention to what's going on. The poem's setting might be peaceful for now, but it won't be for long.

Literary and Historical Context of “Beat! Beat! Drums!”

• Literary Context

  One of the most famous American writers of all time, Walt Whitman had an enormous impact on the direction poetry took in the 1800s and beyond. Until the mid-1800s, most poetry was written in metered, rhyming verse. Eager to leave behind the old poetic traditions that came to the United States from Europe, Whitman began writing poems in free verse. His most famous book, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 and featured what would become his trademark sprawling poetic style.

  "Beat! Beat! Drums!" was written at the beginning of the Civil War, so it makes sense to consider it alongside other famous Civil War poems—for example, "Boston Hymn" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who greatly influenced Whitman. The poem also shares a certain contextual background with Ethel Lynn Beers's poem "All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight," which is about the first battle of Bull Run (the same battle that presumably inspired "Beat! Beat! Drums!").

  But the most famous poetry from the Civil War comes from Walt Whitman himself, as he chronicled the country's descent into conflict. In fact, his poetry traces the trajectory of the entire war: while "Beat! Beat! Drums!" deals with the initial stages of the war, other Whitman poems like "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" center around Abraham Lincoln's assassination and the end of the war. Whitman therefore emerged as a vital poetic voice during the Civil War years and beyond, using his innovative (at the time) free verse poems to write about a turbulent era in American history.

  Historical Context

  As mentioned above, "Beat! Beat! Drums!" was composed shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run, which took place on July 21, 1861, and was the first major battle of the Civil War. The battle occurred several months after the Battle of Fort Sumter, which was much smaller but marked the official beginning of the war. Bull Run, however, was a much more devastating event, with a total death toll of 868—a shocking number that showed both the Union and the Confederacy the true gravity of the Civil War.

  The end result of the Battle of Bull Run—which both sides were relatively unprepared for—was the retreat of Union forces, leaving the Confederate Army with a decisive victory. Walt Whitman no doubt had heard about what happened at Bull Run and (perhaps as a rallying cry) composed "Beat! Beat! Drums!", publishing it in both Harper's Weekly and The New York Leader on September 28, 1861, mere months after the battle.

  Although Whitman didn't fight in the Civil War, he believed in the abolition of slavery and was a Union supporter. He even volunteered in army hospitals as a nurse, though his biggest impact had more to do with the personal connections he made with the wounded soldiers than with any sort of medical expertise. Walking through the wards, he made a point of keeping the patients company as they recovered, eventually writing about the experience in a book called Memoranda During the War. Even if he wasn't on the front lines himself, it's clear that he supported the Union.

More “Beat! Beat! Drums!” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Bugle Horn — Listen to the sound of the bugle horn and learn about some of the ways it was used on the battlefield in the Civil War!

  • The Poet's Life Story — Learn more about Walt Whitman's life and work.

  • Whitman and the Civil War — Read about Walt Whitman's engagement with the Civil War, including his time as a volunteer nurse for wounded Union soldiers.

  • Military Bands in the Civil War — A look at the purpose and practices of military bands in the Civil War.

  • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Walt Whitman

  • A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown

  • A Noiseless Patient Spider

  • Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

  • I Hear America Singing

  • In Paths Untrodden

  • I Sing the Body Electric

  • O Captain! My Captain!

  • O Me! O Life!

  • One's-Self I Sing

  • The Voice of the Rain

  • When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer

  • When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d