I’m working on a literature discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

1. Read Walt Whitman’s elegy “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”

• Emily Dickinson
  • Read the following poems: “Faith is a fine Invention” (202), “Because I could not stop for Death” (479), “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died” (591); “Tell All the truth but tell it slant” (1263); “Before I got my eye put out—” (336)
• Read from Frederick Douglass’s The Narrative of the Life of an American Slave

1. DQ 7. Create your initial post on the DQ 7 Discussion Board in response to the following:

• In “Lilacs,” Whitman’s speaker transcribes the song of the hermit thrush into words. How does what the bird sings help the speaker resolve his grief for Lincoln and for the war? What does the bird “tell” the speaker about death?

Return to the board over the weekend, and read the posts of your fellow classmates. You must respond to at least one classmate by posting a reply to his/her initial post. You might find a connection or have questions for classmates.

1. DQ 8. Create your initial post on the DQ 8 Discussion Board in response to the following:

• Douglass was determined to show Americans what it was like to live in slavery. At the time many Americans wanted to believe that slavery couldn’t be that bad, since slave owners were Christians. What does Douglass reply to that argument? Choose a story or anecdote from the text to focus on, and explain his message or argument.