In his poem, "A sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim," Walt Whitman invites his audience behind the scenes into the ghastly reality of war.
The inside speaker describes to his audience what he sees as he wanders through camp in the first stanza. The gloomy, melancholy tone is set when the daybreak is described as "gray and dim,"(1). As he continues walking thoughout the camp, he sees three forms lying on stretchers, "brought out there untended lying,"(4). The alliteration "ample brownish woolen blanket/gray and heavy blanket, folding covering all"(5-6) describes the ugly, plain material covering the brave fighters, now deceased, and implies that war is heavy and oppressing like the blankets.
The strong imagery continues throughout the second and third stanzas as he describes the heroes in detail. He lifts the course blanket to revel the face of an elderly man,"so gaunt and grim, with well-gray'd hair, and flesh all sunken about the eyes,"(9). The second fighter, a young boy,"with cheeks yet blooming,"(12) lies beside him. Clearly, this is a hyperbole, because the chance of this happening is very rare. The speaker just wants his audience to realize that various age groups partake in the brutal fight for the benefit of their people. Throughout these two stanzas, the speaker reapets the question, "Who are you, my dear comrade,"(10). But in the fourth stanza this changes.
As the speaker approaches the third body and peers in at the young man's face he says,"young man I think I know you,"(14). Using an allusion, he then relates him to Christ by stating, "dead and divine and brother of all, and here again he lies,"(15). By saying this, he conveys to his audience that all fighters are similar to Christ in that they all willingly give their lives for the well being of others.
"A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim" is a deep and heartfelt poem by Walt Whitman. In it, his audience can see first hand the reality of war on the beloved, brave soliders who fight who fight to the death for their country.
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