A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim by Whitman

Prof. Kalogeris
Hector Manuel Alcaraz

THIRD ESSAY ON WHITMAN

Walt Whitman starts this poem just as he usually does, repeating the title as

the first sentence, making the reader assimilate the gray and dim

atmosphere, blending with a picture of a sleep depraved narriator. Having

the poem just started we raise the question why is he so sleepless if its

morning. It can be hard for us to grasp the true meaning of this word

because when we wake up we do so fully rested in a time of peace and

prosperity of the United States, not being the case during Whitman’s Civil

War times, so perhaps it was a night with bullet sounds, full of battle

screams, or maybe they were losing the war*. We can’t really know for sure

kept him up.

Then comes a number, the number three and given that at the end of the

poem he mentions Christ, as a catholic, I’m inclined to think that Whitman

knows this is a very religious number and chose it on purpose. However, at

this point it seems a bit adventurous so lets leave the thought alone for now.

In the next paragraph, from the word “curious” to “blanket” the tone that the

narrator wishes to convey becomes more evident to the reader because of

the repetitive use of the words “I” and “the” for example, “the face of”, “the

nearest”, “the first just”, and “the blanket”, almost as if he were stuttering

with nervousness and fear of the uncertain, sparked by his curiosity.

Right up next the three faces are unveiled: and elderly man, a sweet boy, and

a young man perhaps at his early thirties (33?). So taken in account the

disparity of age above, another question rises, was there no age boundaries

for battle in soldiers? Had they no regard for kids yet to mature and grow

older? Well it seems as if everybody and anybody could be called to serve at

war.

And then Christ in the third and last blanket, we must say it’s quite

intriguing to find this religious