When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
(Questions & Answers)
1. The Poem
2. Summary
3. Analysis
1.
For whom, the poem, ’When Lilacs Last in
the Dooryard Bloom'd’ was written?
-
American poet, Walt Whitman wrote the poem,
‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd’, as an elegy for the President
Abraham Lincoln.
2.
When was the President, Abraham Lincoln
assassinated?
-
Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865.
3.
Which type of imagery does Whitman use
in the poem, ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd’?
-
Whitman uses a series of rural and natural
imagery, including the symbols of the lilacs, a drooping star in the western
sky (Venus), and the hermit thrush, in the poem.
4.
When was the poem first published?
-
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed, was
first published in 1865 in the Drum-Taps.
5.
What type of elegy is this poem?
-
This poem is a personal elegy. As in the
conventional elegy, in this elegy also there is, first, an expression of
personal grief, then a procession of mourners, through whom the poet’s grief is
universalized, and then, finally, consolation is offered for the death of the
beloved one.
6.
Name some other famous elegies similar
to ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’.
-
Some other famous elegies similar to ‘When
Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’ are,
Whitman’s ‘O Captain! My
Captain!’ and “Hush’d Be the Camps To-Day” in memory of Abraham Lincoln.
Thomas Gray’s, ‘Elegy
Written in a Country Churchyard’.
Alfred Lord Tennyson’s, ‘In
Memoriam A. H.H’,
Theodore Roethke’s ‘Elegy
for Jane’,
John Milton’s ‘Lycidas’, and
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s
‘Adonais’.
7.
What does the elegy, ‘When Lilacs Last
in the Dooryard Bloom’d’ highlight?
-
‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’
highlights the inevitability of death upon human beings, through various images
and symbols.
8.
What are the symbols used in the poem,
‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’?
-
‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’ is
an elegy on the death of the 16th President of American President, Abraham
Lincoln. The poet uses three major symbols- the star, The lilac and the bird. The
lilacs represent the poet's perennial love for Lincoln; the fallen star (Venus)
is Lincoln; and the hermit thrush or its chant represents death.
9.
What is the Form and Structure of the
poem, ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’?
-
‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’ is
a long poem of 206 lines. It is written in the pastoral elegy form. The poem is
divided into sixteen sections with the length ranging from 5 or 6 lines to as
many as 53 lines. The poem does not possess a consistent metrical pattern, and
the length of each line varies from seven syllables to as many as twenty
syllables.
1. The Poem
2. Summary
3. Analysis
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