Leaves of Grass · Chapter
Camps of Green explained
The poem contrasts the temporary camps of war with the eternal camps of green where all soldiers, generals, and the President ultimately rest in peace, suggesting a universal bivouac beyond hatred and conflict.
What happens
The poem contrasts the temporary camps of war with the eternal camps of green where all soldiers, generals, and the President ultimately rest in peace, suggesting a universal bivouac beyond hatred and conflict.
Themes in this chapter
Death and Immortality
The camps of green symbolize death as a peaceful, eternal bivouac where all meet without hatred.
Comradeship and Love
The poem emphasizes the unity of soldiers, generals, and the President in a shared resting place.
America and Its People
The camps of green encompass all Americans, from parents to soldiers, reflecting the nation's collective experience.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
The speaker reflects on the camps of war and the camps of green, addressing fellow soldiers.
- America
Implied as the nation whose soldiers and leaders fill the camps of green.
- Death
The camps of green represent the final resting place, a bivouac-field of all.
- My Captain
Referenced indirectly as 'the President over the corps and generals all.'
Key passages
“Not alone those camps of white, old comrades of the wars, When as order'd forward, after a long march, Footsore and weary, soon as the light lessens we halt for the night”
The poem begins by recalling the temporary camps of war, where weary soldiers stop for the night after a long march.
Sets up the contrast between wartime camps and the eternal camps of green.
“Lo, the camps of the tents of green, Which the days of peace keep filling, and the days of war keep filling, With a mystic army”
Now see the green camps, filled by both peace and war with a mysterious army.
Introduces the central metaphor of the camps of green as a universal resting place.
“Behold the mighty bivouac-field and waiting-camp of all, Of the corps and generals all, and the President over the corps and generals all, And of each of us O soldiers, and of each and all in the ranks we fought, (There without hatred we all, all meet.)”
Look at the great bivouac where all—generals, the President, and every soldier—meet without hatred.
Highlights the theme of unity and reconciliation in death.
“For presently O soldiers, we too camp in our place in the bivouac-camps of green, But we need not provide for outposts, nor word for the counter-sign, Nor drummer to beat the morning drum.”
Soon we soldiers will also camp in the green bivouac, where no sentries or morning drums are needed.
Emphasizes the peace and finality of death, contrasting with the vigilance of war.