"When Lylacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"

A) Favorite or most challenging lines:
Song of the bleeding throat,
Death’s outlet song of life,(for well, dear brother, I know
If thou wast not gifted to sing, thou would’st surely die.

In trying to pull something out of these lines and still slightly confused, I would say that there is an automatic invitation to death if one could sing. "Song of the bleeding throat, in a way, gives a "heads up" for the next line which can be read as if one was given a voice to sing, they will die.


And the singer so shy to the rest receiv’d me,
The gray-brown bird I know, receiv’d us comrades three,
And he sang what seem’d the carol of death, and a verse for him I love.

Similar to the lines above, these lines also describe a song of death, "...the carol of death," line 128. In a way, this could be a repetitive message with different use of words.

B)Personal Response:
I can relate to this poem having to deal with death quite a bit in my life. I have large families on both sides and in the past 5 years there have been 8 deaths in the family. Although death is part of life, it is extremely hard to deal with after losing those that are loved most. Those who have brought the family so close together are now gone. This poem sends a specific message about death and I understand that there is a feeling of loneliness and sadness for awhile. I easily forget the death of someone close in my life but always remember the impact that he or she has had on my life.


C) Historical Information:
This poem is part of a series of poems that were written after Lincoln's assassination. This poem also makes reference to problems that occurred during the time of the Civil War. This is said to be a poem of mourning, which makes sense, of the death of a high ranking public figure(Abraham Lincoln). In reading "When Lilacs Last in the Doorway Bloom'd" I believe Whitman is attempting to figure out the best way to mourn the death of someone significant.
http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/whitman/section7.rhtml