The+Bivouac's+Fitful+Flame

When I first saw this poem I was very scared to post on it because I had no clue what a "Bivouac" is. After looking it up on dictionary.com, the entire poem made so much sense. A bivouac is a military encampment (tent) specially built for soldiers to protect them from enemy fires and so forth. I like this poem because Whitman very carefully describes the surroundings around the bivouac flame. He describes how it is dark and silent, and he can see the army sleeping quietly. He can also hear a figure occasionally moving around, and through the shrubs and trees he can realize he is being watched carefully. During this time the soldier stops and thinks, he relfects on the art of life or death, and all the loved ones back home. This is a very short poem, but I greatly enjoyed it mostly because it was so easy to comprehend just by finding out what a "Bivouac" was. Whitman describes the surroundings of the bivouac so perfectly you can imagine it in your head, and im sure thats exactly what he wanted. 1199835533

I agree with Joe in the fact that when I first read this poem I wanted to leave it alone because I had no idea what a bivouac was. Then I looked it up and I found out that it was a little temporary shelter made by the army and everything started coming together. I think that this poem is very good because of how he describes everything around the bivouac and his condition and his thoughts. I think that people now would like to read this poem because of the war going on and how many people have family and friends over seas, so people can relate. He also picks very interesting words to descirbe it. When I think of war I would think of explosions and panic, not "The tents of the sleeping army, the fields’ and woods’ dim outline, The darkness, lit by spots of kindled fire—the silence; Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving; " He makes war seem like a calm event, with people sleeping and not much happening. 1200323677

I have to disagree. Even after I looked up the word "Bivouac", I still had no idea what this poem meant. I will admit that it was a little easier when I looked up the word, but it still confused me. Most of Whitman's poems that we have read have confused me and this poem is no exception. I can guess that he is trying to describe what it is like to be in the army and at your camp, by your campfire, knowing that dthe enemy could attack you any second. I can obviously see how that would make you nervous and I do see a hint of nervousness. Maybe this is what Whitman is getting at? Maybe he is trying to describe the nature of human nervousness? I am still confused but I think that I am slowly gettting the point that Whitman is trying to make. Overall, I did not really like this poem. It was really hard to comprehend and I did not enjoy it at all. 1200326517

Bivouac- n 1: temporary living quarters specially built by the army for soldiers; After I realized what the word “bivouac meant I could personally understand the poem, maybe not the full meaning of it but I still got something from it. This poem painted a picture in my head with how he described this bivouac he was looking at. It puts such a good picture into my head of the woods at night and being around so many people but still being alone at the same time. But then at the end of the poem I believe I realized that he was one of them because of the lines, “A solemn and slow procession there as I sit on the ground, by the bivouac’s fitful flame.” I believe he is saying he is one of them, sitting by the bivouacs fitful flame. I just found the poem interesting because it kind of tricked my mind after I thought about it, that he wasn’t watching them as an outsider but as one of them. 1200327277

I, too, disagree. I looked up the word "Bivouac" and the definition was "temporary living quarters specially built by the army for soldiers". I still don't see how the poem expressed this word, because the whole poem over all was hard to interpret and comprehend. Yes, Whitman's poems are sometimes hard to understand. But, I feel as if this one was the icing on the cake. This poem was just too confusing. It seemed as if Whitman was trying to describe so many intense emotions people were perhaps feeling, but I couldn't get a general idea. So, I'm just going by with my assumptions from reading this poem and other posts I'm agreeing with. But, I'm guessing that Whitman was probably just explaining how it was to be in an army camp. Whitman was probably explaining this from his own personal experience, because I've noticed he's dealt with and gone through so much in his life. And, he tends to explain it all in his writings. Maybe that's why he gets so in depth and in detail about important situations such as this. 1201354399

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