"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" ~ Walt Whitman's profound celebration of life in death!

I am updating this ... Do not read this as a poem ...it is a simple story!


Trump constantly compares himself favorably with, if not superior in ability. to Lincoln .. make your own judgement on that.

But when, and he (Trump) will, and I don't look to it..Dies ..I cannot believe he will strike in the heart of anyone, with such profound passion and sentiment as is expressed in this story.

I say STORY because that precisely is what it is ~If you listen to it hear it as a "tale told" by a man who fully understood the enormity of the event ... along with his aching pain and the way in which he dealt with that pain and sorrow .. relax and hear ..!

Where can one start in appreciation of the brilliant and beautiful awareness that Walt Whitman passes on to us of his deep understanding of life and it's joys emerging from out of his utter devastation at the death of Lincoln.

It is epic and bears listening to again and again. It has taken me a good period of time spread over 6 or so weeks to achieve a degree of comfort in it's complexity ~ but time well spent and I am the richer for it. I hope it projects your way too!
This is something I wrote to a friend :-
"Yes indeed the poem is specifically written in response to Lincolns assassination (a year later ~ "when Lilacs last in the Door yard bloomed") ~ it is an elegy " a poem of serious reflection, usually a lament for the dead"
It could be a bit morbid especially as he presents Death as very much intertwined with existence and glorifies her (death) along with the many, many other things he talks about during the poem
His repetition of a lot of the images sets up a kind of "chant" which could also be tedious but in fact forms a sort of literary drum beat. The whole poem for me (far from being an elegy) represents a celebration of life and the future. This is all my own interpretation and why not?"

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