In Walt Whitman’s poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” there are three key symbols a lilac, a star, and a bird, these symbols express transcendentalism and are an allusion to president Lincoln’s life and death. The poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” uses symbolism to mourn and enlighten the country of Lincoln’s death. The “western fallen star” Whitman 1 as a symbol of president Lincoln’s death. Whitman opens his poem by expressing sadness and mourning in the first two stanzas of the poem for this “western fallen star” Whitman 1.
The lilacs are a symbolize perseverance because lilacs die and resurrect in the springtime. The poem is set in the early spring so the lilac trees are just beginning to bloom.