When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'D

How is it best to honor a great star after it has fallen and past on to death? For some, a mere funeral and wake would suffice, but for other monument are erected, schools and workplaces closed, parade and moment of silence where attributed to. Others like the late great Ray Charles movies are and to commemorate and celebrate their achievements over the years. So what then would you do for a person that freed millions, and united a country? For Walt Whitman he felt the best way to honor such a "star" was to dedicate at least four of is poem to such a great man. Out of the four poems dedicated the one best known as Abraham Lincoln's elegy is "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". This poem is one of Whitman rather lengthier poems, in which he utilizes a combination of tone, and symbolism to project his feeling and the nations lose.

Whitman exemplified his grief through many forms throughout "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," the one most vivid to reader is in the tone and mood of the poem. From the first section of the poem Whitman conveys to the reader that this is in fact a gloomy and ominous poem Whitman is able to convey this message in describing the "great star" which is "droop'd in the western sky." Whitman goes on and changes to first person narrative and states "I mourn'd … and yet shall mourn with ever returning spring." This first description of the great star "droop'ed" allows the reader to visualize a star actually drooped, sagging and worn out. It personifies the star as it was exhausted by the entire load it has been caring. Whitman then is able to switch to first person and personally inform the reader that this is actually a elegy, with the simple words "I mourn'd" In the second section he repeats the letter "O" at the beginning of each stanza, and continues to use more dark descriptive words such as "shade of night," "disappear'd," and "black murk." The use of the O at the start of each stanza projects to reader as if the poem