Essay comparing two Whitman poems

       
        Even though Walt Whitman uses the same tone of respect and love towards Lincoln in both “When Lilacs Last Bloom’d” and “O captain, My Captain”, He depicts two contrasting views on the subject of death that stole Lincoln from him, one of the men he cherished and respected the most.
         Whitman first shows his love of Lincoln in “O Captain, My Captain” when he calls Lincoln “father” and “dear father”. Whitman emphasizes this point when he shows his remorse in saying “From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won! Exult, O shores! And ring, O bells! But I with silent tread, Walk the spot my captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.” For when he is saying this he is expressing how he thinks he should be exultant and happy because the long wrought war was finally over. However he could feel no joy because his mentor had died. In “When Lilacs Last Bloom’d” Whitman also shows abounding love when through the symbol of a bird he expresses that he mourned so greatly for Lincoln that if he was not allowed to express it in some way he would die. He again manifests his love by unabashedly offering it to him when he says “I give you my sprig of lilac”.  He testified to his love to Lincoln once again when he relates how he could never fully express his love of Lincoln or what a great man he believed Lincoln was, when he says “O how shall I warble myself for the dead one there I loved . And how shall I deck my song for the large sweet soul that has gone?” Then Walt Whitman shows respect in “O Captain, My Captain” when he calls Lincoln “captain” an authority figure and a respected man. He similarly shows this in “When Lilacs Last Bloom’d” when he calls Lincoln a “star”. In addition he demonstrates how the whole country respected and still respects Lincoln when he shows how the masses rose up for him when he says “… for you the flag is flung, for you the bugle trills. For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning.” Whitman shows this again in “When Lilacs Last Bloom’d” when he expresses how the states stood in vigil, how the “cities draped in black” and when he compared the states to “crepe-veiled women”. All as the train carried Lincoln’s body in procession across the country to be buried in his home.
         In “O Captain, My Captain” There is no meaning except that Lincolns death and death in general is tragic. However in “When Lilacs Last Bloom’d” he conveys that although death is tragic it is an inevitable part of life, so it should be accepted and made peace with. For while in “O Captain, My Captain” it is tragic and mournful throughout the poem, in “When Lilacs Last Bloom’d” Whitman realizes over time that death is a part of the cycle of life. He realizes that no matter how gruesome they look or what the people left behind feel, the dead feel no pain. The pain they might have been feeling as they were about to die is taken from them and they are released.
         Whitman in his grief wrote of a man and a leader who changed many lives for the good, in two contrasting poems.  He wrote of a man who changed history, who helped to stop slavery, and kept our country strong and undivided. Lincoln of course did not do this alone however he was the main person who led this country during that period of affliction,  and gave of himself to keep this country strong, whole and filled with integrity. His sacrifice of himself for his country and people led him to be loved and respected. For this reason his legacy will not be forgotten by those in this country who still wish it to be strong, whole and filled with integrity. Whitman as he loved and respected the man who did these things for his country and people, wrote two poems expressing this,  both showed the same love and respect to Lincoln. However while his love and respect of Lincoln never changed in either poem, Whitman’s outlook on death does. In “O Captain, My Captain” Whitman is consumed with grief, and yet in “When Lilacs Last Bloom’d” he seemed to have over time come to peace with death.