By the bivouac's fitful flame,1 A procession winding around me, solemn and sweet and slow—but first I note, The tents of the sleeping army, the fields' and woods' dim outline,5 The darkness lit by spots of kindled fire, the silence, Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving, The shrubs and trees, (as I lift my eyes they seem to be stealthily watching me,) While wind in procession thoughts, O tender and wondrous10 thoughts, Of life and death, of home and the past and loved, and of those that are far away; A solemn and slow procession there as I sit on the ground, By the bivouac's fitful flame.15
Analysis
Walt Whitman’s By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame is a poem portraying the viewpoint of a soldier in a military camp as he sits alone and thinks. On the surface, this poem seems to be about the simple perspective of a nervous soldier. However, this poem has a much deeper purpose. The descriptions about what the soldier saw as well as what he thought in addition to the poem’s form are used to prove how the human mind and its freedom to produce imagination, as represented by the “bivouac’s fitful flame”, can be our greatest and our most faithful companion in life. Walt Whitman was born into a patriotic family in 1819 and grew up a proud American. He was angered by slavery and feared that the practice of it would lead to a division within his home nation, which it later did, leading to the Civil War. During the time of the Civil War, one of Whitman’s brothers got injured in fighting. When he went to go visit him, he ended up staying near the hospital and over time visited around 100,000 patients, most of whom were wounded soldiers. All the different stories and experiences he heard led him to publish the collection of poems called Drum Taps during the war to serve as encouragement for the soldiers still fighting. Within that collection of poems was By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame, a poem about a lonely soldier’s thoughts in camp at night, written with the intent to encourage lonely soldiers in the Civil War. (“Walt Whitman Biography”) In By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame, the narrator is understood to be a soldier sitting by a fire within a “bivouac”, a temporary camp without tents or cover. (“Bivouac”) This soldier talks about what he observes as he is alone by the campfire at night and the various thoughts that run through his head. Whitman uses the image of the “bivouac’s fitful flame”, the campfire that the soldier is sitting by, to represent the human mind. As the narrator sits by this fire, his mind begins to wander and think of random things like his thoughts have no order, identical to how fire has no boundaries or order, it goes wherever it wishes. It has total freedom. The entire structure of the poem reflects this idea of freedom because Whitman uses free verse, allowing him to ignore the boundaries normal poetry styles would limit him to. At first, the narrator’s mind observes the woods and camp he is residing in, then he notices the silence around him. Towards the end of the poem his mind begins to think about “...life and death, of home and the past and loved, and of those/ that are far away” (12-13). His mind is jumping from one thought to the next, with no connection between the thoughts. His mind has total freedom to go wherever it wishes, and demonstrates no order or purpose. Whitman wants to connect this with the object of fire, that when left unattended, will go wherever it wishes. When burning, fire has no order, it consumes anything near it. Whitman reinforces this connection by beginning and ending the poem with the same line, “By the bivouac’s fitful flame” (1,15), showing that while sitting by the fire, the soldier’s mind becomes active. Whitman’s illustration of the mind is symbolized by the campfire, however he also wants to point out a product of the mind, imagination. He demonstrates how the two go hand in hand, because as the narrator thinks of the camp and the woods, he begins to imagine things that aren’t physically real. As he is looking at “...the fields’ and woods’ dim/ outline” (4-5) he adds that he observes “Like a phantom … an occasional figure moving” (7). Phantoms are “an appearance or illusion without material substance”. (“Phantom”) The fact that he compared this “figure” to a phantom shows that it wasn’t a real creature, but rather a figment of the narrator’s imagination, produced by his wandering mind. In the next line, the narrator says that the shrubs and trees “seem to be stealthily/ watching me” (8-9), personifying the vegetation. This is naturally impossible, showing that this soldier’s imagination is creating unreal situations that he believes to be true. After Whitman has shown the connection between the human mind and imagination, he aims to reveal the idea that both are mankind’s greatest and most faithful companions in life. The narrator of the poem is clearly alone as he sits by the fire, because he observes “the tents of the sleeping army” (4) and the “silence” (4). He also reveals how he is nervous, because he imagines that the “shrubs and trees … seem to be stealthily/ watching…” (8-9) him. Even though the narrator is physically alone, he is accompanied by his thoughts and imagination, produced from his mind. As he is sitting there, he thinks about “life and death… of home… /of those that are far away” (12-13). His mind solves his loneliness by creating thoughts about his life back home, away from the war. His mind goes even farther, by imagining figures and creating people out of the vegetation and woods that surround him, such as the “occasional figure” (7) that he compares to a phantom. While Whitman illustrates that the soldier is tangibly alone, he still has his mind and imagination to accompany him. Walt Whitman didn’t just write a poem about a lonely soldier at night, he wrote about a much bigger message to encourage the Civil War soldiers still fighting. With the details about the narrator's thoughts and observations and the form of the poem, Whitman taught a lesson about the human mind and its product, imagination. He wanted to teach and encourage the soldiers in the Civil War that even though they are away from their families and homes, they are never truly alone. They will always have their minds and imaginations to keep them company as they are gone. Even though this message was meant for soldiers in the Civil War, it can still apply to people today. Mankind is never really alone, they will always have their minds and imagination, and that can’t be taken away.