Markham's Lincoln versus Whitman's Lincoln

88'ers:

Lauryl talked helpfully about Markham's interest in the poetic form called

                        elegy

(a poem-song-lament about the death of someone great). She pointed out
that Markham's elegy of Lincoln was "hyperbolical in its praise" and
deifies Lincoln--which is another sign of Markham's POETIC failure, since
his point was to make Lincoln a man of the people.

In this regard, especially because Whitman is a major figure in our next
chapter, the first real chapter of our course on poetry that is
specifically modern, it might be fun for a few of you to read Markham's
elegy for Lincoln against Whitman's elegy for Lincoln:

        "O Captain! My Captain!"
        http://www.bartleby.com/142/193.html

or better, another Lincoln elegy by Whitman, the famous

        "When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d"
        http://www.bartleby.com/142/192.html

--Al

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