Walt Whitman’s “Song of the Banner at Daybreak” features a variety of voices who offer their own unique views and attitudes toward patriotism. Five distinct characters perform this little drama: poet, pennant, child, father, and banner.
Poet: “O A new song, a free song”
Upon observing the flag and pennant of his country and the military, the poet wishes to make the ultimate statement about the meaning of patriotism. With all of the voices who may express a thought, the poet will attempt to “twine them in” and give life to them.
Pennant: “Come up here, bard, bard”
The pennant representing the military invites the poet and the others to join him as he flies high in the sky and “play[s] with the measureless light.”
Child: “Father what is that in the sky beckoning to me with long finger?”
The child is thrilled by the invitation of the pennant but does not quite understand what it is or what it means; thus, he asks his father what it is that is so inviting to him.
Father: “Nothing my babe you see in the sky”
The father typically tries to avert the child’s attention from the military pennant’s allure and points that attention to other areas of life. The father points out that there are houses and money and cars loaded with goods to be dealt with. His implications are that the land is rich with material wealth with he would like his child to become engaged with instead of having to serve in the military to protect these things.
Poet: “Fresh and rosy red the sun is mounting high”
Here the poet again interjects his beautiful words: “But I am that which unseen comes and sings, sings, sings.” And in addition to some lovely landscape description, the poet adds, “And the shore-sands know and the hissing wave, and that banner and pennant, / Aloft there flapping and flapping.”
Child: “O father it is alive--it is full of people--it has children”
The child, despite the father’s attempt to redirect his attention, becomes even more enthralled by the pennant; in it, the child sees people, especially children: “It is talking to children / I hear it—it talks to me.”
Father: “Cease, cease, my foolish babe”
Again, the father seeks to dissuade the child from noting the pennant and directs the child’s attention to things on the ground.
Banner and Pennant: “Speak to the child O bard out of Manhattan”
Now the flag and the pennant both appeal to the poet to talk to the children and help them understand that the banner and pennant are more then mere strips of cloth.
Poet: “I hear and see not strips of cloth alone”
The poet avers that the banner and pennant are not merely strips of cloth: “I hear and see not strips of cloth alone, / I hear the tramp of armies, I hear the challenging sentry, / I hear the jubilant shouts of millions of men, I hear Liberty!”
Banner and Pennant: “Yet louder, higher, stronger, bard! yet farther, wider cleave!”
The banner and pennant, however, feel that poet needs to be even more emphatic: “Yet louder, higher, stronger, bard! yet farther, wider cleave! / No longer let our children deem us riches and peace alone.”
Child: “O my father I like not the houses”
The child then tells his father that he is not interested in the material things of this world; he prefers to work for higher ideals as symbolized by the pennant and banner.
Father: “Child of mine you fill me with anguish”
Naturally, the father fears for the child as any father would fear for a son or daughter who joins the military service. As the child seeks to perform duties that honor his country, the father only sees the possibility of the child fighting and dying in war.
Banner: “Demons and death then I sing”
The banner then admits that duty is filled with “demons and death,” but the banner nevertheless insists that it will sing these things. It then catalogues the guts and glory that is represents and is unashamed of the work it symbolizes.
Poet: “My limbs, my veins dilate, my theme is clear at last”
The poet is finally emboldened to sing the praises of the banner and pennant, claiming, “a little child taught me.” The poet now thinks only of the heightened duty symbolized by the pennant and banner, not of the material wealth accumulated by a free people. The key focus is on the freedom, without which the material wealth would remain an unachieved desire.
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