Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs in the Dooryard Bloom’d”

When Lilacs in the Dooryard Bloom’d is an elegy by Walt Whitman on the death of Abraham Lincoln. The author uses the poem to grief the death of Abraham Lincoln and to illustrate death itself. The poem. The poem which is free verse has used several literary elements.

The poem has used repetition. The author repeats the same word or words at the beginning of the lines. This type of repetition is widely observable in the second, sixth, eighth, and eleventh sections. For example, in the second section we have:

“O powerful western fallen star !/O shades of night/O moody, tearful night!/O great star disappear’d/O the black murk that hides the star!/O cruel hands that hold me powerless/O helpless soul of me!/O harsh surrounding cloud that will not free my soul” (Whitman, 2019, 7-11).

The repetition of “O” in this section creates a rhyme that lends energy and expanse to the lines. The repetition of “O” evokes a feeling of honesty and freedom. 

The human grief depicted by the poem is illustrated as part of a recurrent cycle by the use of repetition. For example, the lines of the first section have been repeated severally, particularly at the end of the poem. They focus on images of the stars and lilac as well as a bird’s song which stirs the poet’s to write his own song (Schmidt, 2013). In another form of repetition, the poem applies the word “warble” on himself as well as the bird. The poet uses the word to represent the identity between himself and nature. In section 13 of the poem, the poet describes the thrush singing in the swamplands and into the dusk, the pines and the cedars (Schmidt, 2013). At the end of the poem this description is repeated, implying that the poet’s observation of external environment is what he eventually becomes. Repetition has also been used to bring out the element of death. There is a recurrence of images such as “mastering odor” of the lilac and the “delicious” coming of the evening that builds up a rich experience, of visual and scents that is itself an aspiration for repetition. 

Alliteration has also been used in the poem. Alliteration is a technique of repenting initial consonant sounds (Miller et al., 2016). The use of alliteration helps the reader hear of the frequently changing landscape, which also adds to the broad scope of the poem’s sound. It enables the sound in the poem to change from pretty and airy in one minute to mysterious and withdrawn in the next. In the opening lines of the poem, both full rhyme and alliteration are present. 

“When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d/ And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night” (Whitman, 1-2).

The alliteration is also evident in lines 47-48 of the poem

“Blossoms and branches green to coffins all I bring/For fresh as the morning, thus would I chant a song for you O sane and sacred death” (Whitman, 2019, 47-48).

The poem has also made use of syntax. This is evident in section 3. Here we have the subject “I” follow the object “A sprig.” The poet reverses the whole subject-predicate formula which propels the reader through the line.

“With delicate-color’d blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green/A sprig with its flower I break” (Whitman, 2019, 16-17)

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References

Miller, W., Prufer, K., & Kurowski, T. (2016). Literary Publishing in the Twenty-First Century. Milkweed Editions.

Schmidt, G. (2013). When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard Bloom’d. Methodist DeBakey Cardiovascular Journal, 9(1), 56-56. https://doi.org/10.14797/mdcj-9-1-56

 Whitman, W. (2019). When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45480/when-lilacs-last-in-the-dooryard-bloomd