Sharman 1

Katerina Sharman

Lindsey Royce

World Lit 1650 - Present

10 April 2022

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d Analysis

Many poets and authors find death an inspiration for their works, and often this results in

impactful writings that shake the reader and make them contemplate life and death. One such

author is Walt Whitman, who wrote a beautiful yet tragic poem about the death of Abraham

Lincoln. In Walt Whitman’s poem, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, he reflects on

how the death of a beloved American president affects the people and explores how death and

life are tied to each other. The poem can be split into two halves, the first half is parts one

through thirteen, and the second half is parts 14-16. Each half has a distinct set of themes that

resonate with the reader and share many elements of poetry that enhance Whitman’s reflection

on death.

Walt Whitman’s poem, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, was written as a

free-verse elegy for Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was one of Whitman’s idols and his assassination

deeply wounded Whitman (Puchner, Ed 549). Throughout Lincoln’s presidency, Whitman spoke

out against slavery and demanded that it not be allowed in the new territories of the West, but

unlike Lincoln, he did not want a war that forcibly removed it in the South (Brown 4). Clarence

Brown, a member of the Illinois State Historical Society, writes on Whitman, “Whitman, like

Lincoln, was never inclined to sacrifice his principles, and he always regarded political parties as

merely the means of getting things done,” (4). Whitman noticed Lincoln's resolve to hold to his

principles, which only increased his admiration for the president. He admired how Lincoln
 Sharman 2

wanted to hold the Union together, and how he was from a middle-class family and wasn’t born

into the wealthy class like previous presidents. Whitman was as dedicated to maintaining

democracy as Lincoln was but simply went about it in a different way (Brown 1). Brown states,

“Whitman’s dedication to the cause of American democracy and the union of the states formed a

bond between him and Lincoln which was deeper and more abiding than any which could have

arisen out of occasional personal contacts,” (1). The assassination of President Lincoln hurt

Whitman immensely because of this deep bond between them, but it resulted in Whitman writing

an excellent poem that reflects on death and mourning.

The elegy written for Lincoln is widely regarded as one of Whitman’s greatest successes

(Blasing 1). There are several reasons, but Mutlu Blasing, a researcher from Cambridge

University, states that it is because, “it is the most controlled; its form does not seem open-ended

or arbitrary” (1). This is because it is a free verse poem. Free verse poems allow the creator to

freely express ideas without the restraints of rhyme scheme, syllable limits, or stanza length. It

also opens the poetry up to interpretation from the readers, as the author is able to express their

ideas however they like. Despite this, the poem is not so open-ended that it doesn’t have a clear

meaning. The many themes of the poem discuss life, death, and immortality.

Whitman’s grief about Lincoln’s assassination manifested in the themes of the first half

of the poem. He discusses the change that occurs with death, as well as grief with attachment and

collective grief among the common people. Mark Edmundson, a researcher on Whitman's

poems, states, “Whitman’s opening lines…seem to represent the resolution of the poet’s grief,”

(9). The reader first senses Whitman’s powerful emotions in the very first stanza when he writes,

“And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night, I mourn’d, and yet shall mourn

with every returning spring,” (Puchner, Ed 550). Here, Whitman is lamenting a fallen star
 Sharman 3

(Lincoln) and contemplating the changing of the seasons – or rather the continuation of time

after one dies. When he states that he will mourn the star every spring, he is telling the reader

that he will never forget Lincoln no matter how many years after his death it is.

Whitman uses nature throughout the poem to illustrate his grief to the reader. In parts

three through five, Whitman’s imagery shows nature itself mourning the death of Lincoln. He

takes the reader across the country, through farms and cities, to emphasize how the assassination

affected everybody in the US. The fifth section of the elegy highlights the national grief of

Lincoln’s death by following the traveling of the coffin, Whitman states,

[o]ver the breast of Spring, the land, amid cities, amid lanes and
through old woods … amid the grass in the fields … passing the
yellow spear’d wheat … passing the apple-tree blows … carrying a
corpse to where it shall rest in the grave, night and day journeys a
coffin (Puchner, Ed 551).

This stanza encompasses the rural communities through fields and farms and also discusses the

cities and urban areas. The coffin is a symbol of the grief of the common people, and as it travels

across the country so does the grief of Lincoln’s death spread.

In sections six and seven there is a change in the tone of the poem. Its tone becomes

darker as Whitman dives more deeply into the reactions of the common people. In section six

Whitman writes, “with the great cloud darkening the land … with the cities draped in black …

with the silent sea of faces and the unbared lands … With the waiting depot, arriving coffin, and

the somber faces … With all the mournful voices … I give you my sprig of lilac,” (Puchner, Ed

552). Whitman discusses how the death of the president caused a great shadow of grief to fall

over the land and he describes how all the people in mourning watched the coffin come and go.

However, the final line about the lilac leads into section seven where the tone is still dark, but

Whitman begins to understand that life and death march hand and hand with one another. The
 Sharman 4

lilac leads us to this because it represents new life after death. Section seven discusses covering

death with flowers: roses, branches of green, early lilies, but mostly lilacs. This shows how

Whitman hopes that after his death Lincoln will end up someplace where he can have a new life,

but it also shows how Whitman hopes the people can move on in this new world without

Lincoln.

In the next three sections, eight through ten, Whitman comes to terms with the fact that

the world keeps on spinning when people die. He is coming to terms with, and understanding, his

grief, and death, but he feels like he should move on despite how he’s lingering. In section nine

the reader sees this as Whitman writes, “[t]he star my departing comrade detains me,” (Puchner,

Ed 552). Whitman’s attachment to the star, which represents Lincoln, is what is holding him

back from moving on (Edmundson). He has an immense attachment to Lincoln because of their

shared ideologies, but also because, “Lincoln had become, in symbolic terms, Whitman’s soul,”

(Edmundson 10).

Whitman ends the first half of the poem by beginning to understand that life and death

are tied and telling the people of America to continue grieving the death of their beloved

president but to move on with their lives and keep living. Sections 11 to 13 each elaborate on

Whitman’s grief and understanding of death. In section 11 he writes, “[W]hat shall the picture be

that I hang on the walls, to adorn the burial-house of him I love?” (Puchner, Ed 553). This phrase

explains how people were hanging pictures to show respect to Lincoln, but the tone of the

section is much lighter and the reader can sense the beginning of the turning point in the second

half of the poem. The twelfth section continues this lightening of tone, as Whitman uses words

like sparkling tides, “the flashing Missouri,” and “gentle, soft-born measureless light,” (Puchner,
 Sharman 5

Ed 553). The imagery of a softer, more lovely world is a stark contrast to the description of

mournful voices and dark shrouds in the sixth and seventh sections.

Section 13 hones in on the idea that Whitman is understanding that death and life are tied,

as he writes about how the people mourn and he hears but begins to move on. Whitman uses the

symbol of the bird, the lilac, and the star to explain his feelings in a way that sets up the tone for

the second half of the poem. He writes, “sing on you gray-brown bird, sing from the swamps, the

recesses, pour your chant from the bushes … loud human song, with voice of uttermost woe …

You only I hear—yet the star holds me, (but will soon depart,) Yet the lilac with mastering odor

holds me,” (Puchner, Ed 554). As Whitman hears the cries of the common people (birds) from

across the country, he encourages their remembrance of Lincoln, as he himself is being held by

Lincoln’s spirit (star) (Carlile). But as he hears the songs, Whitman recalls that he must continue

with his life, as the lilacs bloom each spring, he too must grow past this death.

From this point on, the poem takes a turn in the mood. It becomes lighter and more

hopeful instead of the darker, mournful mood of the first half of the poem. In sections 14-16,

Whitman restates the themes from earlier sections but from the perspective of immortality.

Whitman writes how he knows the secrets of death, the birds sing songs praising death, and

Whitman knows and understands death deep in his soul (Puchner, Ed 554). During the song of

the birds, Whitman has images of dead soldiers who are happy, because despite being dead they

are in a wonderful place (Puchner, Ed 555). Despite their happiness, the families of the soldiers

are in mourning because they have lost their loved ones. This juxtaposition shows that those who

suffer after death are the ones who are alive, which reinforces the previous themes of needing to

move on after a loved one dies. At the end of the poem, Whitman ends up in a beautiful place,

“in the fragrant pines and the cedar’s dusk and dim,” (Puchner, Ed 556). He finally realizes he
 Sharman 6

must move on from Lincoln’s death, and bids farewell to the star, lilac, and bird; he lets go of

Lincoln and the grief he held on to for so long.

Throughout Where Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, Walt Whitman explores themes

of death and mourning. He explores how one is affected by the death of a beloved figure, how

one mourns, and how one moves on from this death. The poem can be split into two halves, each

exploring the themes of death in different yet similar ways. The first half studies death and

mourning through a lens of grief and mortality, the mood is darker and focuses on how Lincoln’s

death made people grieve. However, the second half of the poem faces similar themes but

discusses how there is goodness in death, those who die are not in pain and are happy.

Understanding death makes it seem less terrifying and makes life all the sweeter. The elegy as a

whole reflects Whitman’s beliefs on death and shows the evolution of his grief about Lincoln’s

assassination.
 Sharman 7

Works Cited

Blasing, Mutlu Konuk. “Whitman’s ‘Lilacs’ and the Grammars of Time.” PMLA, vol. 97, no. 1,

1982, pp. 31–39, https://doi.org/10.2307/462238. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Brown, Clarence A. “Walt Whitman and Lincoln.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society

(1908-1984), vol. 47, no. 2, 1954, pp. 176–84, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40189372.

Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Carlile, Robert Emerson. “Leitmotif and Whitman’s ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard

Bloom’d.’” Criticism, vol. 13, no. 4, 1971, pp. 329–39,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/23098537. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

Edmundson, Mark. “‘Lilacs’: Walt Whitman’s American Elegy.” Nineteenth-Century Literature,

vol. 44, no. 4, 1990, pp. 465–91, https://doi.org/10.2307/3045070. Accessed 22 Apr.

2022.

“Walt Whitman.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, 4th ed.,

Volume F, W. W. Norton & Company, 2018