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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


OLD WAR-DREAMS by WALT WHITMAN

Poet Analysis

First Line: IN MIDNIGHT SLEEP OF MANY A FACE OF ANGUISH
Last Line: I DREAM, I DREAM, I DREAM.
Subject(s): AMERICAN CIVIL WAR; DREAMS; UNITED STATES - HISTORY; NIGHTMARES;

In midnight sleep of many a face of anguish,
Of the look at first of the mortally wounded, (of that
indescribable look,)
Of the dead on their backs with arms extended wide, I
dream, I dream, I dream.

Of scenes of Nature, fields and mountains,
Of skies so beauteous after a storm, and at night the moon
so unearthly bright,
Shining sweetly, shining down, where we dig the trenches
and gather the heaps,
I dream, I dream, I dream.

Lond have they pass'd, faces and trenches and fields,
Where through the carnage I moved with a callous composure,
or away from the fallen,
Onward I sped at the time -- but now of their forms at night,
I dream, I dream, I dream.



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