Study Questions
1. Name the city the soldiers are parading through in First O Songs for a Prelude?

2. Who are the two speakers in Song of the Banner at Daybreak?

3. In The Centenarian’s Story, what does General Washington read to his troops before battle?

4. What happened to the young soldier in Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night?

5. In A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim, what does the poet see when he emerges from his tent?

6. What does the poet encounter in the woods in As Toilsome I Wander’d Virginia’s Woods?

7. What was the relationship between the two dead soldiers in Dirge for Two Veterans?

8. Who is the main character in Ethiopia Saluting the Colors?

9. What does the narrator of Reconciliation do at the end of the poem?

10. In The Artilleryman’s Vision, what does the veteran recall as he lies in bed late at night?

Answers
1. The new recruits are parading through the streets of Manhattan in New York City.

2. A Poet, a Child, a Father, a Banner, and a Pennant are the speakers in this poem.

3. Washington read the Declaration of Independence.

4. The soldier was killed in battle.

5. He sees three dead soldiers lying on stretchers.

6. The poet discovers the grave of a soldier at the foot of a tree.

7. The two soldiers, whose funeral Whitman describes, were father and son. They were killed together in battle.

8. The poem describes an elderly female slave standing by the roadside.

9. The narrator kisses the “white face” of a dead enemy soldier.

10. The artilleryman vividly recalls the sights, sounds, and smells of various battles.