The Civil War had a major impact on the people of America through the years of 1861 to 1865. Walt Whitman, a poet and Northerner of this time, wanted to capture the people's reactions of the war after finding out it was not going to end as quickly as they had anticipated. Whitman illustrated how the people, especially Northerners, changed throughout this conflict; he achieved this by using countless images in his poem, "Beat! Beat! Drums!" The main focus of the piece was imagery, which intensified the reader's perceptions and reinforced their emotions of the war. By emphasizing the significance of images, Walt Whitman went from being a public poet to breaking away from the traditional poetic form and introducing new kinds of poetry to America. Whitman's dedicated spirit helped him expand his sense of imagery through his various works, since he was never able to attend college. …
