Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in History
Whitman And The Elegy: Mythologizing Lincoln And The Poetic Reconstruction Of Mourning, Brytani Raymond
Whitman And The Elegy: Mythologizing Lincoln And The Poetic Reconstruction Of Mourning, Brytani Raymond
Online Theses and Dissertations
In Walt Whitman's mind, Abraham Lincoln represented the very essence of America and, because of this, Lincoln and his assassination were the ideal subject through which Whitman could explore the art of mourning on both individual and collective scales. The regimented order of lament, adoration, and consolation of the traditional elegy were not enough to accommodate the complex, organic mourning that Whitman sought to capture in his poems. Whitman's series of elegies following the death of Abraham Lincoln mythologized the president in ways that still permeate our historical view of Lincoln today. This essay seeks to give an in-depth explication …