When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’dArticle Free Pass When
Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, elegy in free verse by Walt
Whitman mourning the death of Pres. Abraham Lincoln. First
published in Whitman’s collection Sequel to Drum-Taps (1865) and
later included in the 1867 edition of Leaves of Grass, the poem
expresses revulsion at the assassination of the country’s first
“great martyr chief.” Implicitly, it also condemns the brutality
and waste of war. This elegy is notable for its use of pathetic
fallacy in attributing grief to nature. Also included in the
1867 edition of Leaves of Grass was a second elegy Whitman wrote
for Lincoln, “O Captain! My Captain!” What made you want to look
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