Date of Award
January 2017
Degree Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
Master Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English and Theatre
First Advisor
Tom Butler
Department Affiliation
English and Theatre
Second Advisor
Paula Kopacz
Department Affiliation
English and Theatre
Third Advisor
Charlotte J. Rich
Department Affiliation
English and Theatre
Abstract
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 of the ways in which Whitman consciously subverted the established traditions of the elegiac form to demonstrate that the process of grief could not be broken down to a simple formula as suggested by past elegists.
Copyright
Copyright 2017 Brytani Raymond
Recommended Citation
Raymond, Brytani, "Whitman And The Elegy: Mythologizing Lincoln And The Poetic Reconstruction Of Mourning" (2017). Online Theses and Dissertations. 553.
https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/553
