Discuss how "When Lilacs Last in the Doorway Bloomed"' by Walt Whitman is a poem that affirms life yet also is a poem of death.

I think that the statement is accurate in describing
Whitman's poem.  To a great extent, all elegies are works that strive to mourn the loss
of an individual through death but also affirm the life that they led.  The elegy's
birth only comes out of an affirmational rationale to honor the dead.  This poem is no
exception.  Whitman writes it to mourn the loss of Lincoln, but honor him at the same
time.  "The great star" is a line that directly refers to Lincoln.  The fact that it
shone becomes the reason that the poem is written, but also because that source of light
and beacon "early droop'd" is another reason why the poet feels the need to compose the
poem. Even the mere title plays with this juxtaposition.  On one hand, the idea of
blooming lilacs affirms life itself.  Recalling when they last did so brings the notion
that such beauty and purity are no longer present.  To honor such a condition is to pay
homage that it has now passed, and the poem appropriates this same demeanor towards
Lincoln.