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Library's collection Library's IT development CancelThis thesis is a study of the speaker's attitude towards 'death' relating to
the death of President Lincoln in Walt Whitman's poem "When Lilacs Last in the
Dooryard Bloom'd". This poem is talking about the speaker's attitudes as his
reaction due to Lincoln's death. In revealing his attitudes, the speaker conveys his
feelings of love and sorrow toward Lincoln. However, the speaker does not
mention Lincoln's name. He uses lilacs as his symbol of his love, star as Lincoln,
and the singing bird as his tribute to Lincoln. He also shares about his visions
about the coming of'death', the coffin's journey, and the experience with 'death'
itself to show that he has a deep relationship with Lincoln. The poem is divided
into three events. First is about the death of the hero, second is about the funeral
procession and the third is about the speaker's reaction due to the two previous
events. The theories that thesis writer uses are the theory of symbolism, imagery
and tone. She uses symbolism to analyze the symbols that the speaker uses in
expressing his feelings. Theory of imagery is applied in the analysis of the image
that the speaker includes in the poem. She uses tone to show the mood of the
poem that the speaker creates in order that she can follow the attitude of the
speaker. In the analysis, the thesis writer finds out that the speaker uses three
principal symbols that are, lilacs, star and hermit thrush to reveal his feelings. The
image of funeral procession and the speaker's experiences with 'death' through
his vision are used to express the speaker's attitudes. The tone of the poem is
changed from sad to joy since the content of the poem is the speaker's attitude
towards 'death' and then he comes to self-realization and finally accepts 'death'
joyfully. As her conclusion, the thesis writer concludes that in the poem, the
speaker conveys his positive attitudes towards 'death' through his grief feelings to
the death of the hero whom he really loves and admires.