Sequel To Drum-Taps on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
''Sequel to Drum-Taps'': ''When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd and other poems'' is a collection of eighteen poems written and published by American poet
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
" ''Leaves of Grass'', edited by K. Price and E. Folsom, Walt Whitman Archive. Accessed 13 August 2020.Bradley, Scully, et al., eds. 1980. ''Leaves of Grass: A Textual Variorum of the Printed Poems'' 1. New York: New York University Press. p. xvii.
The collection consisted of 18 poems, in the following order:
*
The Walt Whitman Archive
{{Walt Whitman American Civil War books Poetry by Walt Whitman American poetry collections 1865 books
Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...
in 1865.
Most of the poems in the collection reflect on the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
(1861–1865), including the elegies "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" is a long poem written by American poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) as an elegy to President Abraham Lincoln. It was written in the summer of 1865 during a period of profound national mourning in the af ...
" and " O Captain! My Captain!", which were written in response to the 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln
On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Shot in the hea ...
. The poems of this book were later included in ''Leaves of Grass
''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. Th ...
'', Whitman's comprehensive collection of his poetry that was frequently expanded throughout his life.
Background
At the start of theAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
(1861–1865), Whitman moved from New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
where he obtained work in a series of government offices, at first with the Army Paymaster's Office and later with the Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
. Callow, Philip. 1992. ''From Noon to Starry Night: A Life of Walt Whitman''. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...
. p. 293.Loving, Jerome. ''Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself'', (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 283 He volunteered as a nurse in the army hospitals. His experience as a nurse informed his poetry, which matured into reflections on death and youth, the brutality of war, and patriotism; and offered stark images and vignettes
Vignette may refer to:
* Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy
* Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters
* Vignette (literature), short, i ...
of the war.
Many of his Civil War poems were assembled into a collection that Whitman titled '' Drum-Taps''. After the publication and printing of ''Drum-Taps'' in Brooklyn in April 1865, Whitman intended to supplement the collection with several additional Civil War poems and a handful of new poems mourning the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln that he had written between April and June 1865.
After returning to Washington, D.C., in Summer 1865, Whitman contracted with Gibson Brothers to publish a pamphlet of eighteen poems—which he intended to include with copies of ''Drum-Taps''Price, Kenneth, and Ed Folsom. 2005. ''Re-Scripting Walt Whitman: An Introduction to His Life and Work''. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. p. 91.—that would have two works directly addressing the assassination: the elegies "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" is a long poem written by American poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) as an elegy to President Abraham Lincoln. It was written in the summer of 1865 during a period of profound national mourning in the af ...
" and " O Captain! My Captain!". The 24-page collection was titled ''Sequel to Drum-Taps'' and bore the subtitle ''When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard Bloom'd and other poems''; the titular poem, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" is a long poem written by American poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) as an elegy to President Abraham Lincoln. It was written in the summer of 1865 during a period of profound national mourning in the af ...
", filled the first nine pages.Whitman, Walt. 1865. ''Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard Bloom'd and other poems''. Washington: Gibson Brothers. pp. 3–11. In October, after the pamphlet was printed, Whitman travelled to Brooklyn to collate and bind them into copies of ''Drum-Taps''. He added the poems from ''Drum-Taps'' and ''Sequel to Drum-Taps'' as a supplement to the fourth edition of ''Leaves of Grass
''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. Th ...
'', printed in 1867 by William E. Chapin.Whitman, Walt. 867When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
" ''Leaves of Grass'', edited by K. Price and E. Folsom, Walt Whitman Archive. Accessed 13 August 2020.Bradley, Scully, et al., eds. 1980. ''Leaves of Grass: A Textual Variorum of the Printed Poems'' 1. New York: New York University Press. p. xvii.
Poems
The collection consisted of 18 poems, in the following order:
* When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" is a long poem written by American poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) as an elegy to President Abraham Lincoln. It was written in the summer of 1865 during a period of profound national mourning in the af ...
''
* "Race of Veterans"
* " O Captain! My Captain!"
* "Spirit whose work is done"
* "Chanting the Square Deific"
* "I heard you, solemn sweet pipes of the Organ"
* "Not my Enemies ever invade me"
* "O me! O life!"
* "Ah poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats"
* "As I lay with my head in your lap, Camerado"
* "This day, O Soul"
* "In clouds descending, in midnight sleep"
* "An Army on the march"
* "Dirge for Two Veterans"
* "How solemn, as one by one"
* "Lo! Victress on the Peaks!"
* "Reconciliation"
* "To the leaven'd Soil they trod"
References
External links
The Walt Whitman Archive
{{Walt Whitman American Civil War books Poetry by Walt Whitman American poetry collections 1865 books