When Lilacs Last In The Door-yard Bloom'd Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABC CDE FBFGH IJEKJL IM NIM OPQ IIICIRS ITUCBIIVSIWIU XCY IIZIA2Y B2C2D2BBE2F2PBBG2H2 I2J2A2II K2H2E DCL2E IIE IBM2D2M2IIC TIIN2 IIBO2IT P2II MP Q2Q2R2I S2IIIB2T2Q2IM2DU2Y IIIV2IW2 IIE IW2P2 IBP2 X2 YCY2Y IIIY Z2V J2J2 IA3IY IICB FPYI MB3IY J2P2B C3D3B BI IIE3BIB2 E3E3F3BBBBB BIJ2MBG3B2IICBBB BBJ2PQ2BJ2LJ2C3

When lilacs last in the door yard bloom'dA
And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the nightB
I mourn'd and yet shall mourn with ever returning springC
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O ever returning spring trinity sure to me you bringC
Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the westD
And thought of him I loveE
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O powerful western fallen starF
O shades of night O moody tearful nightB
O great star disappear'd O the black murk that hides the starF
O cruel hands that hold me powerless O helpless soul of meG
O harsh surrounding cloud that will not free my soulH
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In the door yard fronting an old farm house near the white wash'd palingsI
Stands the lilac bush tall growing with heart shaped leaves of rich greenJ
With many a pointed blossom rising delicate with the perfume strong I loveE
With every leaf a miracle and from this bush in the door yardK
With delicate color'd blossoms and heart shaped leaves of rich greenJ
A sprig with its flower I breakL
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In the swamp in secluded recessesI
A shy and hidden bird is warbling a songM
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Solitary the thrushN
The hermit withdrawn to himself avoiding the settlementsI
Sings by himself a songM
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Song of the bleeding throatO
Death's outlet song of life for well dear brother I knowP
If thou wast not gifted to sing thou would'st surely dieQ
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Over the breast of the spring the land amid citiesI
Amid lanes and through old woods where lately the violets peep'd from the ground spotting the gray debrisI
Amid the grass in the fields each side of the lanes passing the endless grassI
Passing the yellow spear'd wheat every grain from its shroud in the dark brown fields uprisingC
Passing the apple tree blows of white and pink in the orchardsI
Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the graveR
Night and day journeys a coffinS
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Coffin that passes through lanes and streetsI
Through day and night with the great cloud darkening the landT
With the pomp of the inloop'd flags with the cities draped in blackU
With the show of the States themselves as of crape veil'd women standingC
With processions long and winding and the flambeaus of the nightB
With the countless torches lit with the silent sea of faces and the unbared headsI
With the waiting depot the arriving coffin and the sombre facesI
With dirges through the night with the thousand voices rising strong and solemnV
With all the mournful voices of the dirges pour'd around the coffinS
The dim lit churches and the shuddering organs Where amid these you journeyI
With the tolling tolling bells' perpetual clangW
Here coffin that slowly passesI
I give you my sprig of lilacU
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Nor for you for one aloneX
Blossoms and branches green to coffins all I bringC
For fresh as the morning thus would I carol a song for you O sane and sacred deathY
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All over bouquets of rosesI
O death I cover you over with roses and early liliesI
But mostly and now the lilac that blooms the firstZ
Copious I break I break the sprigs from the bushesI
With loaded arms I come pouring for youA2
For you and the coffins all of you O deathY
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O western orb sailing the heavenB2
Now I know what you must have meant as a month since we walk'dC2
As we walk'd up and down in the dark blue so mysticD2
As we walk'd in silence the transparent shadowy nightB
As I saw you had something to tell as you bent to me night after nightB
As you droop'd from the sky low down as if to my side while the other stars all look'd onE2
As we wander'd together the solemn night for something I know not what kept me from sleepF2
As the night advanced and I saw on the rim of the west ere you went how full you were of woeP
As I stood on the rising ground in the breeze in the cold transparent nightB
As I watch'd where you pass'd and was lost in the netherward black of the nightB
As my soul in its trouble dissatisfied sank as where you sad orbG2
Concluded dropt in the night and was goneH2
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Sing on there in the swampI2
O singer bashful and tender I hear your notes I hear your callJ2
I hear I come presently I understand youA2
But a moment I linger for the lustrous star has detain'd meI
The star my departing comrade holds and detains meI
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O how shall I warble myself for the dead one there I lovedK2
And how shall I deck my song for the large sweet soul that has goneH2
And what shall my perfume be for the grave of him I loveE
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Sea winds blown from east and westD
Blown from the eastern sea and blown from the western sea till there on the prairies meetingC
These and with these and the breath of my chantL2
I perfume the grave of him I loveE
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O what shall I hang on the chamber wallsI
And what shall the pictures be that I hang on the wallsI
To adorn the burial house of him I loveE
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Pictures of growing spring and farms and homesI
With the Fourth month eve at sundown and the gray smoke lucid and brightB
With floods of the yellow gold of the gorgeous indolent sinking sun burning expanding the airM2
With the fresh sweet herbage under foot and the pale green leaves of the trees prolificD2
In the distance the flowing glaze the breast of the river with a wind dapple here and thereM2
With ranging hills on the banks with many a line against the sky and shadowsI
And the city at hand with dwellings so dense and stacks of chimneysI
And all the scenes of life and the workshops and the workmen homeward returningC
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Lo body and soul this landT
Mighty Manhattan with spires and the sparkling and hurrying tides and the shipsI
The varied and ample land the South and the North in the light Ohio's shores and flashing MissouriI
And ever the far spreading prairies cover'd with grass and cornN2
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Lo the most excellent sun so calm and haughtyI
The violet and purple morn with just felt breezesI
The gentle soft born measureless lightB
The miracle spreading bathing all the fulfill'd noonO2
The coming eve delicious the welcome night and the starsI
Over my cities shining all enveloping man and landT
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Sing on sing on you gray brown birdP2
Sing from the swamps the recesses pour your chant from the bushesI
Limitless out of the dusk out of the cedars and pinesI
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Sing on dearest brother warble your reedy songM
Loud human song with voice of uttermost woeP
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O liquid and free and tenderQ2
O wild and loose to my soul O wondrous singerQ2
You only I hear yet the star holds me but will soon departR2
Yet the lilac with mastering odor holds meI
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Now while I sat in the day and look'd forthS2
In the close of the day with its light and the fields of spring and the farmer preparing his cropsI
In the large unconscious scenery of my land with its lakes and forestsI
In the heavenly aerial beauty after the perturb'd winds and the stormsI
Under the arching heavens of the afternoon swift passing and the voices of children and womenB2
The many moving sea tides and I saw the ships how they sail'dT2
And the summer approaching with richness and the fields all busy with laborQ2
And the infinite separate houses how they all went on each with its meals and minutia of daily usagesI
And the streets how their throbbings throbb'd and the cities pent lo then and thereM2
Falling upon them all and among them all enveloping me with the restD
Appear'd the cloud appear'd the long black trailU2
And I knew Death its thought and the sacred knowledge of deathY
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Then with the knowledge of death as walking one side of meI
And the thought of death close walking the other side of meI
And I in the middle as with companions and as holding the hands of companionsI
I fled forth to the hiding receiving night that talks notV2
Down to the shores of the water the path by the swamp in the dimnessI
To the solemn shadowy cedars and ghostly pines so stillW2
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And the singer so shy to the rest receiv'd meI
The gray brown bird I know receiv'd us comrades threeI
And he sang what seem'd the carol of death and a verse for him I loveE
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From deep secluded recessesI
From the fragrant cedars and the ghostly pines so stillW2
Came the carol of the birdP2
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And the charm of the carol rapt meI
As I held as if by their hands my comrades in the nightB
And the voice of my spirit tallied the song of the birdP2
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DEATH CAROLX2
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Come lovely and soothing DeathY
Undulate round the world serenely arriving arrivingC
In the day in the night to all to eachY2
Sooner or later delicate DeathY
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Prais'd be the fathomless universeI
For life and joy and for objects and knowledge curiousI
And for love sweet love But praise praise praiseI
For the sure enwinding arms of cool enfolding DeathY
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Dark Mother always gliding near with soft feetZ2
Have none chanted for thee a chant of fullest welcomeV
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Then I chant it for thee I glorify thee above allJ2
I bring thee a song that when thou must indeed come come unfalteringlyJ2
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Approach strong DeliveressI
When it is so when thou hast taken them I joyously sing the deadA3
Lost in the loving floating ocean of theeI
Laved in the flood of thy bliss O DeathY
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From me to thee glad serenadesI
Dances for thee I propose saluting thee adornments and feastings for theeI
And the sights of the open landscape and the high spread sky are fittingC
And life and the fields and the huge and thoughtful nightB
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The night in silence under many a starF
The ocean shore and the husky whispering wave whose voice I knowP
And the soul turning to thee O vast and well veil'd DeathY
And the body gratefully nestling close to theeI
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Over the tree tops I float thee a songM
Over the rising and sinking waves over the myriad fields and the prairies wideB3
Over the dense pack'd cities all and the teeming wharves and waysI
I float this carol with joy with joy to thee O DeathY
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To the tally of my soulJ2
Loud and strong kept up the gray brown birdP2
With pure deliberate notes spreading filling the nightB
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Loud in the pines and cedars dimC3
Clear in the freshness moist and the swamp perfumeD3
And I with my comrades there in the nightB
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While my sight that was bound in my eyes unclosedB
As to long panoramas of visionsI
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I saw askant the armiesI
And I saw as in noiseless dreams hundreds of battle flagsI
Borne through the smoke of the battles and pierc'd with missiles I saw themE3
And carried hither and yon through the smoke and torn and bloodyB
And at last but a few shreds left on the staffs and all in silenceI
And the staffs all splinter'd and brokenB2
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I saw battle corpses myriads of themE3
And the white skeletons of young men I saw themE3
I saw the debris and debris of all the dead soldiers of the warF3
But I saw they were not as was thoughtB
They themselves were fully at rest they suffer'd notB
The living remain'd and suffer'd the mother suffer'dB
And the wife and the child and the musing comrade suffer'dB
And the armies that remain'd suffer'dB
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Passing the visions passing the nightB
Passing unloosing the hold of my comrades' handsI
Passing the song of the hermit bird and the tallying song of my soulJ2
Victorious song death's outlet song yet varying ever altering songM
As low and wailing yet clear the notes rising and falling flooding the nightB
Sadly sinking and fainting as warning and warning and yet again bursting with joyG3
Covering the earth and filling the spread of the heavenB2
As that powerful psalm in the night I heard from recessesI
Passing I leave thee lilac with heart shaped leavesI
I leave thee there in the door yard blooming returning with springC
I cease from my song for theeB
From my gaze on thee in the west fronting the west communing with theeB
O comrade lustrous with silver face in the nightB
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Yet each I keep and all retrievements out of the nightB
The song the wondrous chant of the gray brown birdB
And the tallying chant the echo arous'd in my soulJ2
With the lustrous and drooping star with the countenance full of woeP
With the lilac tall and its blossoms of mastering odorQ2
With the holders holding my hand nearing the call of the birdB
Comrades mine and I in the midst and their memory ever I keep for the dead I loved so wellJ2
For the sweetest wisest soul of all my days and lands and this for his dear sakeL
Lilac and star and bird twined with the chant of my soulJ2
There in the fragrant pines and the cedars dusk and dimC3

Walt Whitman



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