“When the Lilacs in the Yard Bloomed” by Walt Whitman is an elegiac poem in memory of Abraham Lincoln. The poem follows the narrator waiting to place a sprig of lilac on the president's casket, the physical journey Lincoln's casket takes across the country, and, finally, a solitary grieving bird far from civilization. Specifically, the poem's opening stanzas that follow the narrator and the stanzas concerning the thrush characterize the poem as an elegy through their use of classical elegiac conventions, such as references to nature, to song, to the apotheosis of deaths and transfer. of the narrator's mourning to the whole world. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Throughout the poem, Whitman uses traditional imagery and symbolism typically used in an elegy poem. A component of elegiac imagery relies on an emphasis on nature or the pastoral, which is clear from the first line of the poem: When the lilacs lasted in the gate-yard, they bloomed, / And the great star fell early in the west. sky in the night, / I cried - and yet I will cry for the spring that always returns. Whitman uses the image of colorful lilacs and spring, the season of new life, to juxtapose Lincoln's untimely death as well as to convey the speaker's deep sadness that follows each anniversary of his passing. This reference to "spring that always returns" also adds a somber tone by implying that even though the human world is in mourning, the natural world is disjointed from humanity and will always return to new life in spring, regardless of " the great star [that] soon fell. »Astrological symbolism or the apotheosis of the dead is another common feature in the elegy; Whitman uses both in "When the Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." Throughout the poem, Whitman refers to Lincoln as a star several times: O mighty, western, fallen star! / O shades of night! O gloomy and tearful night! / O great vanished star! O the black darkness that hides the star! Using the star to stand in for Lincoln is Whitman's way of lifting the fallen president to the heavens, in an almost divine way. The imagery used to describe the fallen star consumed by darkness evokes an eclipse or the final moments of the day when the sun finally sets; This imagery in relation to Lincoln is a sign of the speaker's belief that Lincoln's death was untimely and happened too soon. The speaker's choice of words also indicates that Lincoln was a sort of star or guiding light for America, and now that he is gone, the nation is plunged into temporary darkness as the war ends civil. Whitman uses the thrush bird to symbolize nature. mourning and as a comparison with the merits of the narrator's own mourning. He said of the bird: “Song of the bleeding throat! / The song of life from death - (for well, dear brother, I know / If you weren't good at singing, you would surely die.) » The bird cries in a lonely swamp because it would die without the gift of song, not in the midst of a civilization stimulated by the death of Lincoln. The narrator recognizes and understands the song of the thrush, but he is not able to produce his own song for his fallen star: But for a moment I linger, for the bright star has held me back; / The star, my departing comrade, holds me and holds me back. / O how could I twitter for the dead man I loved there? / And how will I embellish my song for the great, sweet soul who is gone? / And what will be my perfume, for.