Which 19th-century poet wrote 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryards Bloomed'?

Which 19th-century poet wrote 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryards Bloomed'?

• A. Walt Whitman
• B. John Keats
• C. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• D. Percy Bysshe Shelley

Answer: (A)

Identifying the author of a famous Civil War-era elegy. This poem was written by Walt Whitman, the American poet celebrated for Leaves of Grass and his expansive, free-verse style. It mourns Abraham Lincoln’s death and uses nature imagery—like lilacs—to convey collective national sorrow, a hallmark of Whitman’s approach to poetry and democracy. The other poets listed belong to the Romantic era and produced different kinds of works earlier in the century, so they aren’t the authors of this Lincoln elegy.

Identifying the author of a famous Civil War-era elegy. This poem was written by Walt Whitman, the American poet celebrated for Leaves of Grass and his expansive, free-verse style. It mourns Abraham Lincoln’s death and uses nature imagery—like lilacs—to convey collective national sorrow, a hallmark of Whitman’s approach to poetry and democracy. The other poets listed belong to the Romantic era and produced different kinds of works earlier in the century, so they aren’t the authors of this Lincoln elegy.