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A Look at Death Through Different Windows John Milton and Walt Whitman are two accomplished poets from very different time periods and societies. Milton’s elegy Lycidas was written during a period of monarchy and exploitation amidst the Protestant Revolution. As a spokesman for the revolution, Milton expressed views such as work ethic and “right reason” (reason by the grace of God). Whitman’s elegy on the other hand, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, was written at the tail end of the transcendentalist period. Whitman looked at human life in relation to nature, promoting balance and acceptance rather than relying on external religion. These elegies not only reflect the individual spiritual beliefs of the poets, but also the spiritual beliefs of society during each time period. This paper will explore these beliefs through tone, word choice, structure, imagery, and overall experience as a reader. In Lycidas, Milton commemorates the death of Edward King, a collegemate at Cambridge who drowned when his ship sank off the coast of Wales. In the first few lines we encounter Milton’s initial use of imagery as he addresses laurels stating, “I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, and with forc’d