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Numerous lives were scarred by the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Many mourners did not know how to express their woes and grief. One such individual felt it necessary to take his feelings and express them to the world. This famous man, Walt Whitman, wrote an “ars poetica” in attempt to mark the tragic death of this “powerful, western, fallen star.” Remarkably, Whitman never met President Lincoln nor did he mention his name anywhere in the poem that has come to be seen as his Lincoln Memorial. His poetic technique of giving visual direction and through symbolism, When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom’d, gives a calm reflection on the mourning and feeling of loss for one of the greatest Americans who ever lived. Throughout the poem there is a constant struggle for Whitman’s acceptance and understanding of death. It is as if his poem is his “song” of shock and grief. He is torn between the physical world of the lilacs and the spiritual world of the bird. As a result, he later comes to the realization that it is not the dead who are suffering, but those who remain. As you read the poem, it is important to pay close attention to its three symbolic images: the lilacs, the star, and the hermit thrush (and its song). This trinity of symbolism, all of which have come to represent Lincoln, outlines Walt Whitman’s view on death. I suppose it would only be just to individually analyze each dominant image to elaborate its importance.
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