Walt Whitman- "The Wound-Dresser"

          The Wound Dresser written by Walt Whitman was in response to children (the youth), answering their questions they had for him about the Civil War. He goes on and talks about the war, his experiences and challenges. Hospitals were set up as tents, with a line of wounded people laying outside of it. Buckets of rags were filled with blood endless times over. He says that there are many wounded, bloodshed, and death. Sometimes he simply sat there and silently watched the dead. "Come sweet death! be persuaded O beautiful death! In mercy come quickly"; he is saying that there is so much suffering that the most merciful way out is to die. Furthermore, the Civil War was full of suffering and bloodshed.
          In this poem it is I find it interesting that he does not talk about any of the joys that he experienced in war. Instead he told stories about his and others miserable suffering. He did this because it was in fact one of the bloodiest wars in American history. Common people saw the victories as the war,  but the soldiers lived it and he describes the suffering and death. This connects to William Wordsworth because Wordsworth says it is the job of the poet to show the truths and beauty that the common people are missing. Therefore, Whitman is doing the job of a poet by writing and expressing his truths to the youth about the Civil War.

Question: Why was he content with many hardship and few joys?