Poetry Review – Walt Whitman – The Sleepers - Five

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Whitman envisages George Washington tearfully apologizing personally to each of the men he lost at the 1776 Battle Of Brooklyn Bridge, the biggest battle of the American Revolution Wars and the biggest victory for the British. It was a viscous retaliation attack following the US Declaration Of Independence. Washington weeps profusely as he kisses each fallen comrade n turn, taking full personal responsibility for their deaths. It’s a minor verse in the collection, but its vivid capture of Washington’s sincere if spectral distress over the tragedy of wartime loss and defeat is powerful. Arthur Chappell