The Wound Dresser

The Wound-Dresser is one of Walt Whitman's most popular poem, published in 1865 in his collection Drum Taps. It is a personal, graphic, and absolutely moving poem that centres on the theme of nursing the sick and dying and gives a realistic view of war and the unexciting side of what happens to the men who go to the fight it. This poem is extraordinary for its lack of extreme portrayals of pain and suffering. The poem features Whitman's experiences during the Civil War as a volunteer in Was...