Symbol Analysis
We can't forget about the time period in which this elegy was written, when all of those coffins were making their way to the grave. The speaker feels very passionately about the toll the war has taken on countless lives across the country. He often repeats clauses and interjections in order to emphasize the severity of death and suffering that is felt because of the war. And those "torn and bloody flags" really drive home the cost of war that will forever be stained upon the nation's history. All in all: seriously bad times, folks.
- Lines 33-35: We know that "great cloud darkening the land" is a pretty clear metaphor for the war. The entire nation is suffering with those flags draped over countless coffins and the "cities draped in black." The states and their populations are ironically unified in their grieving, no matter which side of the war they supported.
- Lines 172-177: The speaker sees the armies and all of their battle flags pierced, bloody, and torn. It doesn't matter which side the flags belong to because they're all torn and bloodied. Everything is in a sort of numbed silence at this time because of all of the death and despair.
- Lines 184-185: The mothers and armies left behind are the ones who really suffer. Although the dead are at peace, the nation has been turned upside down, especially with the loss of their leader (Lincoln). Those grieving mothers symbolize the true cost of war and the countless young lives that were lost.