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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


BIVOUAC ON A MOUNTAIN SIDE by WALT WHITMAN

Poet Analysis

First Line: I SEE BEFORE ME NOW A TRAVELLING ARMY HALTING
Last Line: STUDDED, BREAKING OUT, THE ETERNAL STARS.
Subject(s): AMERICAN CIVIL WAR; ARMY LIFE; HOLIDAYS; MEMORIAL DAY; UNITED STATES - HISTORY; DRILLS & MINOR TACTICS; DECLARATION DAY;

I SEE before me now a travelling army halting,
Below a fertile valley spread, with barns and the orchards of summer,
Behind, the terraced sides of a mountain, abrupt, in places
rising high,
Broken, with rocks, with clinging cedars, with tall shapes
dingily seen,
The numerous camp-fires scattered near and far, some away
up on the mountain,
The shadowy forms of men and horses, looming, large-sized, flickering,
And over all the sky -- the sky! far, far out of reach,
studded, breaking out, the eternal stars.



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