The Eagle and the Axe: A Study of Whitman's “Song of the Broad-Axe”

“Song of the Broad-Axe” is a poem that scrambles its elements in so diverse a fashion that any single controlling theme is often obscured or even excluded by the presence of other themes. Some of these are unrelated and seem to be misplaced in the poem. At least their positions in the poem are misplaced. The spectacle of the fire, with its rush of firemen, fire engines, hooks and ladders, for instance, occurs in the middle of a catalogue that presents a team of construction workers, carpenters, and day laborers calmly engaged in their industry. There is nothing in this catalogue (section 3) to anticipate the excitement of the fire scene, nothing here to account for its sudden presence. The occurrence is untimely, out of place, defective, really, in this poem that Whitman found so difficult to write. It is presented at this time only as an example of many such occurrences that one encounters in reading the poem.

A study of the early notes and later revisions of “Song of the Broad-Axe” indicates that Whitman must have had considerable trouble in its composition. He changed more than single words and single lines from the time of its first appearance in 1856 to that of its final setting in 1881. There are instances where entire catalogues were changed, either revised or deleted entirely. New themes were introduced, others were modified, and some dropped completely. The result is a potpourri of too confused a nature to allow for any single all-inclusive reading. As theme displaces theme and the formerly important is subordinated to the suddenly present, the poem becomes a grab-bag for readers of every critical persuasion. I would not be surprised, therefore, to discover this poem popular among Soviet readers, who would put prime emphasis on the political and social-industrial aspects and read the poem as a hymn to the working class. I should expect the religiouslyoriented