Sorrow



[Sorrow] (by Walt Whitman)

sorrow (saxon)
grieve
sad
mourn (sax)
" ing
" ful
melancholy
dismal
heavy‑hearted
tears
black
sobs —ing
sighing
funeral rites
wailing
lamenting
mute grief
eloquent silence
bewail
bemoan
deplore
regret deeply
loud lament
pitiful
loud weeping
violent lamentation
anguish
wept sore
depression
pain of mind
passionate regret
afflicted with grief
cast down
downcast
gloomy
serious
sympathy
moving compassion
tenderness
tender-hearted
full of pity
obscurity
partial or total darkness
(as the gloom of a forest—gloom of midnight)
cloudy
cloudiness
" of mind
mind sunk in gloom
soul " " "
———
dejection
dejected

[shades?] of night
heavy
dull—sombre
sombre shades
" ness
affliction
oppress—oppressive
" ion
prostration
humble—humility
suffering—silent suffering
burdensome
Distress—distressing
Calamity
Extreme anguish (either of mind or body)
Misery
torture
harrassed
weighed down
trouble
deep affliction
plaintive
Calamity
disaster
something that strikes down


Interpretation:


     Whitman started out the poem by defining what Sorrow was in a dictionary term. Then he kind of gave his own viewpoint of what he thought Sorrow was by listing off a ton of descriptive words. Some of them were very powerful imagery words like melancholy. As the poem continues Whitman seems to change pace on how he words Sorrow. In the beginning a lot of the words are very light, and only speak of sadness, or dark feelings. Once you get through a few more stanza's Whitman changes pace of the poem and goes into more depressing words, as well as adding pity. However the most interesting part of his poem is the ending. There you see the most powerful words come out, like Calamity. I'm not quite sure why, but he uses it twice and its the only word in the entire poem that he uses twice almost as if he's trying to emphasize it. Overall, the poem isn't exactly confusing as to what it means, although Whitman certainly intended to put each of those words exactly where they are, and that's the beauty of poetry

    The entire list of terms was actually made for Abraham Lincoln in "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd".