# A Boston Ballad explained — Leaves of Grass

> Chapter companion for Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

## What happens

A satirical poem depicting a parade in Boston that summons ghostly Revolutionary War veterans, only to mock their outdated patriotism and propose a grotesque reenactment of British rule by exhuming King George III's bones.

## Themes in this chapter

### America and Its People

Critiques the complacency and hypocrisy of American citizens and their government.

### Death and Immortality

The dead rise as phantoms, only to be dismissed as irrelevant to the living.

### The Poet as Prophet and Unifier

The narrator acts as a prophetic voice, exposing the absurdity of the spectacle.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

Observes and comments on the parade and the ghostly veterans.

### America

Represented by the Stars and Stripes, the government cannon, and the citizens of Boston.

### Washington

Implied as a figure of the past contrasted with the current spectacle.

### My Captain

Not directly present; the poem's martial imagery echoes the captain motif.

## Key lines

> I love to look on the Stars and Stripes, I hope the fifes will play Yankee Doodle.

The narrator expresses affection for the American flag and expects patriotic music.

_Sets the tone of ironic patriotism._

> Why this is indeed a show—it has called the dead out of the earth!

The parade is so remarkable that it resurrects the dead.

_Highlights the supernatural and satirical elements._

> Dig out King George’s coffin, unwrap him quick from the grave-clothes, box up his bones for a journey...

The narrator suggests exhuming King George III and parading his skeleton through Boston.

_A grotesque satire of American reverence for British monarchy._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/a-boston-ballad
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters