A facial expression of yellow-blue?

Question

hi guys, i came across this line in a poem and just wanted some opinions as how you interpret it. this poem is about war and this verse specifically is referring to a solder

"[...] and the yellow blue countenance see"

any ideas?

thanks

taken from Walt Whitmans wound dresser

Answer 1

I dress a wound in the side, deep, deep,

But a day or two more, for see the frame all wasted and sinking,

And the yellow-blue countenance see.

I've noticed that Whitman likes the "countenance" .. he references it a lot in his poems.

This poem, the Wound Dresser, being all about death in war ... I think this particular verse is describing this young man that the dresser attended to, treating the wound in his side, but a few days later, seeing him dying, his body is wasting away, his overall look/appearance - yellow-blue - the colors that come with disease and death.