Question

Which statement best explains how the language in Stanza 6 evokes a sense of the time in which this poem is set?

Answer 1

It describes the handwriting in the letter as being that of a stranger rather than that of their son, indicating that the poem takes place after their son is already gone. This option  evokes a sense of time in which this poem is set. Walt Whitman wrote this poem , " Come up from the Fields Father", during the Reconstruction Years in the U.S after the Civil War (1861-1865). Whitman himself wrote letters for wounded soldiers when he worked at the hospital. He knew about this situation and he wanted to show this in this poem. The fact that the letter had been written by a stranger reflected that the woman's son had probably died or was seriously wounded. His arms or hands could have been amputated. All this would cause a terribly pain in the mother and the rest of the family. Whitman wanted to express the effects of the Civil War horrors mainly  on the soldiers' families.