When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Walt Whitman
- First Published: 1865
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Elegy
- Subjects: Nature, Flowers, Civil War, Assassination, Funeral rites or ceremonies, Bereavement or grief, Birds, Presidents, Life and death, Stars, Seasons
Whitman wrote “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” in the months following the assassination of President Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Whitman felt the loss of Lincoln personally. He had observed the president on a number of occasions in Washington, D.C. Once he saw him chatting with a friend at the White House and commented, “His face & manner . . . are inexpressibly sweet. . . . I love the President personally.” The elegy contains many of the elements that make up the traditional pastoral elegy, including the expression of grief and bewilderment by the poet, the...
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