‘When Lilacs Last in the Doorway Bloomed’ by Walt Whiteman is as much a poem about life affirmation as it is a poem about death.

MEG – 06: AMERICAN LITERATURE

ASSIGNMENT 2019 - 2020

                                                                                                               Max. Marks: 100

5. ‘When Lilacs Last in the Doorway Bloomed’ by Walt Whiteman is as much a poem about life affirmation as it is a poem about death. Do you agree? Give a reasoned answer. 

Answer.: I definitely agree. If you read this excellent poem lamenting the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln carefully, you will see, apart from the many instances of images and words that convey the poet’s shock and sorrow about the death of the President, many images that also celebrate the rebirth of life and nature’s natural cycle. Note first of all that the poem is set in spring, an obvious time of rebirth and a celebration of the cycle of nature as life emerges. Note the following quote from the first stanza: O ever-returing spring! rinity sure to me you bring; Lilac blooming perennial, and drooping star in the west, And thought of him I love. It is as if the meditation on death that this poem represents places our lives in the scheme of the natural cycle of life. As we read through the poem we see many more such examples that celebrate life and the rebirth inherent in nature. Every leaf of the lilac plant is said to be a “miracle” as it grows and blossoms, just as the poet mourns the death of his friend.

(For the complete answer and also the full set of answers of 1st and 2nd year MEG  assignments/study notes mail me : ignousolvedassignmentz@gmail.com, you may also call or WhatsApp me to get instant reply: +91 99 471 471 85)