Memories of President Lincoln

This week we're looking at a section of (4) poems titled of Memories of President Lincoln.

In, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," Whitman has created this fascinating poem filled with symbols of how he felt about President Lincoln (lilac's heart shaped leaves) and the loss he was going through after his death.  The lilac is a perennial plant, which means it comes back each year. During the time of Lincoln's death, the lilac was growing fragrantly in many yards. I think Whitman has used the lilac to  talk about the process of loss and grief. It was the end of the Civil War and many lives had been lost---shattered. Death doesn't affect the dead as much as it does the living. Whitman realized this, and I believe he was trying to come to terms with his own feelings of despair and trying to help our nation at the same time. Whitman never used President Lincoln's name in the poem, but he made reference to him in other ways. He talked of how they journey'd Lincoln's coffin through different cities, he made note of the veiled women, the cities draped in black. He then went on to talk about how time doesn't stop. People continue with the same every-day tasks. Toward the end of the poem, he notes that, "They themselves were fully at rest, they suffer'd not / The living remain'd and suffer'd..." I think this is the most important message from this poem. Death affects us emotionally, physically, spiritually. Somehow we have to come to terms with our grief.     

Whitman has a strong belief in nature, so he used the lilac plant, a bird, and a star to symbolize his grief. I don't embrace death the way Whitman did, so it is hard for me to process the parts of the poem when he talks so openly of death. He says things like, "Come lovely and soothing death." This is supposed to be the warbling song from the bird, but I have a hard time with it, so I will continue to try to understand his point of view, and I may return to this subject later in the week.