Reading and interpreting Whitman’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle depicting an abstract artist’s work. So many natural objects are attributed agency that it drives me mad trying to pinpoint their interrelations; what do I make of these symbols? How do I flesh out the looming cloud, the sun, the lilacs and their floral cousins? Is this poem more of a eulogy for the late Lincoln or a meditation on death? Like anything else we find with Whitman, it’s a whole lot of both.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174748

Throughout the poem, we get this strange volley with the sun as a literary device, as it both personifies Lincoln’s representation as a hopeful figure and channels Whitman’s contrast between life and death. I find it best to interpret the poem’s naturalistic imagery in accordance to its function. In section 7, Whitman welcomes death by pouring flowers over coffins, saying “With loaded arms I come, pouring for you, / For you and the coffins all of you O death.” Is Whitman just being ironic here? Consider the way the sun moves throughout the poem, covering all the vegetation of North America and preserving life. Sure, we are quick to note the cloud which looms over those who are left to mourn in the sunlight (life), but seldom do we acknowledge the beauties of night, where the flowers remain alive and well.

In reference to both Lincoln and life’s function, the point Whitman seems to be making is that the light they shine results in a product (flowers) that survives their death. In a way, Whitman seems to be saying “don’t be sad he is gone, be happy he lived to influence us and that we may carry forward his influence.” Again, this sentiment was prevalent for Lincoln-sympathizing poets, but when we hear it from Whitman, it delivers an unmatched expanse in meaning, inclusive to, as Whitman says, all of you.