Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in Long Island New York. Whitman disliked the idea of becoming a carpenter like his father and opted to seek his own fortune. The publishing of Leaves of Grass, Whitman's major literary work, was a major turning point in Whitman's life. "Before, he was a teacher, printer, journalist, carpenter, and more. After, no matter what else he did, he was a poet" (Wiener 14). Whitman's strong opposition to slavery gave him problems later on as in life. Langston Hughes relates when he says "[Whitman] had been an editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, but was fired there in 1948, because he refused to support Governor Cass

The last of the three symbols in "Where Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd" is the star. The symbol of the "Western Star" is obviously a direct relation to President Lincoln since Lincoln was from Illinois, which was a western state at that time. I also thought of the star as something that was illuminating, majestic, or perhaps a reference to the American flag. Miller's interpretation was that the star "has elicited greater agreement because of its obvious association with the President's death, although the symbol has been extended to included death itself or the Western conception of death" (Miller 187). After reading this interpretation, I also thought that the star could be a representation of the cycle of life. The morning: relating to birth and childhood; the day: relating to adulthood and old age; and the starry night: death and spirits. Burke states that "the 'drooping' star, the broken 'sprig' of lilac, and the protagonist's soul before the assassination which 'sank' as the star' dropt in the night' (Miller 189). The soul of President Lincoln was not the only thing that "sank", both the nation's and Whitman's moral were also unfavorably affected by death of the President.

Another symbol in "Where Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd" is a bird described as a "solitary", "gray-brown" thrush. When I first read "Where Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd," my interpretations of the bird included the possibility of Lincoln's spirit, freedom, or even his mannerisms. I thought of the thrush and Lincoln's mannerisms because Lincoln appeared as a solitary individual in the majority of the pictures I have seen him in. I went back to my readings and found that in Miller's interpretation "the bird has been associated with love, insight as knowledge of death, the 'thought of mortality' and the poetic process itself (the bird as the 'brother' of the protagonist)" (Miller 187). Burke takes another point of view when he relates that "the thrush also has a complex symboli

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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)