And what shall the pictures be that I hang on the walls,
To adorn the burial-house of him I love?
Pictures of growing spring, and farms, and homes,
With the Fourth-month eve at sundown, and the gray smoke lucid and bright,
With floods of the yellow gold of the gorgeous, indolent, sinking sun, burning, expanding the air;
With the fresh sweet herbage under foot, and the pale green leaves of the trees prolific;
In the distance the flowing glaze, the breast of the river, with a wind-dapple here and there;
With ranging hills on the banks, with many a line against the sky, and shadows;
And the city at hand, with dwellings so dense, and stacks of chimneys,
And all the scenes of life, and the workshops, and the workmen homeward returning.
- Elaborate passage in which appropriate flowers are brought to deck the hearse
- Examples include "O what shall I hang on the chamber walls?" and "And what shall the pictures be that I hang on the walls, To adorn the burial-house of him I love?"
Connotation: The speaker describes the pictures that he wants to hang as if they describe the dying day of Lincoln
Attitude: Confusion, sadness, peacefulness
Shifts: The first three lines of the stanza seem as though the speaker is confused and sad that they have to decide which pictures they should hang in the chamber. The tone then shifts to a peaceful tone when the speaker realizes which pictures they should hang.