I Saw Old General At Bay

 

by Walt Whitman

 

I saw Old General at bay,

(Old as he was, his grey eyes yet shone out in battle like stars,)

His small force was now completely hemm'd in, in his works, 

He call’d for volunteers to run the enemy’s lines—a desperate

emergency,

I saw a hundred and more step forth from the ranks—but two or


I saw them receive their orders aside, they listen’d with care, the

adjutant was very grave 

I saw them depart with cheerfulness, freely risking their lives.

 

Analysis of Poem:

 

            The vivid imagery in this poem makes it chilling. It looks at war and how it is fought. The old general is not sure of how to deal with the problem that is ahead of him, he knows that he will have to send people to their deaths. When he calls out for help, he has a large amount of his company volunteer. It looks at the difficulty that is put on people in command. They have to make calls that will inevitably hurt somebody in the end. These people haven’t grown emotionless, they learned to contain it. This general shows it in his eyes, he feels for his men.