{
 "id": "walt-whitman/beat-beat-drums",
 "title": "Beat! Beat! Drums!",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Walt Whitman",
 "poet_slug": "walt-whitman",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Leaves of Grass",
 "book_slug": "leaves-of-grass",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 144,
 "container": "Drum-Taps",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1865,
  "venue": "Drum-Taps (New York, 1865)",
  "note": "Located in this edition by matching this text's lines against the 1865 Drum-Taps scan. The corpus text follows the 1891–92 arrangement, by which the poem had been revised. First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/waltwhitmansdrum00whit"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/walt-whitman_leaves-of-grass",
  "file": "drum-taps.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1322",
   "https://archive.org/details/leavesgrass03whitgoog"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 21,
  "n_stanzas": 3,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 92,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Beat! beat! drums!⁠—blow! bugles! blow!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through the windows⁠—through doors⁠—burst like a ruthless force,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the school where the scholar is studying;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Leave not the bridegroom quiet⁠—no happiness must he have now with his bride,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So fierce you whirr and pound you drums⁠—so shrill you bugles blow.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Beat! beat! drums!⁠—blow! bugles! blow!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Over the traffic of cities⁠—over the rumble of wheels in the streets;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep in those beds,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No bargainers’ bargains by day⁠—no brokers or speculators⁠—would they continue?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then rattle quicker, heavier drums⁠—you bugles wilder blow.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Beat! beat! drums!⁠—blow! bugles! blow!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Make no parley⁠—stop for no expostulation,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mind not the timid⁠—mind not the weeper or prayer,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mind not the old man beseeching the young man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So strong you thump O terrible drums⁠—so loud you bugles blow.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}