In “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” Whitman juxtaposes mournful sentiments, alongside bright foliage, to demonstrate how death serves as a blessing in the face of war. At first, his approach spawn an eerie milieu, as he praises the environment in an idyllic manner, then mentions death in its midst. However, this poem comes to represent a divergence from the crisis and recovery trope that characterizes much of Whitman’s poetry, as it rids death of its daunting nature as it provides it with an embrace.
When Whitman introduces death, he considers it something which “[soothes],” because it envelops one in a gentle manner, and in doing so, ends his suffering (464). In death, the “white skeletons,” become able to obtain stillness and rid themselves of warfare turmoil. However, living persons continue to endure struggle and impending doom, which proves more strenuous than death itself. As this poem personifies death, it addresses it in a concrete and assertive manner: “O death, I cover you over with roses and early lilies” (461). This approach disarms death to prove how man triumphs against it. Also, because this environment appears spring-like, it paints a sense of renewal, which death provides as it permits one to rest and to obtain life through eternal reverence. An example of this occurs as Whitman “[adorns]” the “burial-house” of one man and honors his life upon his death (462). This demonstrates how this man prevails as he gains the ability to reside in a delicate state, unlike those in war. As Whitman calls upon the “gray-brown bird,” representative of death, to continue his song and call upon others, he asks for “clear notes,” or the definitive nature of death, which provides one with solace through a sealed, stable fate (464; 466). In effect, Whitman romanticizes death to highlight how man utilizes it to rest then transcend it through his legacy.
I really like how this post connects Whitman to Romanticism, because I too, see Whitman as a romantic poet at times. For example, another poem for this week which revolves around death is “O Captain! My captain.” While I don’t see Whitman celebrating death as he does in the poem your blog post covers, I definitely see Whitman using romanticism in connection with death. One of the leading tropes of romanticism is a deep personal and emotional closeness with the speaker. In “O Captain! My Captain,” this closeness, I argue, is seen through the narrator’s connection with his dying captain: “My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will.” By naming the captain as his father, readers understand that the loss of this man is beyond tragic, because the captain was like family to the narrator. Hence, Whitman is once again invoking a romantic description of death, where the reader is able to truly feel loss through the words of the heart-broken narrator.
I do think that precisely in mitigating the power of death through the force of embrace, which enacts a recovery from this crisis–in that sense, “When Lilacs Last” is emblematic of this trope, and not so much a subversion of it. It’s important that this recover is not an escape from death, but the result of a journey through death–a journey that “When Lilacs Last” carefully walks the reader through.