About This Exhibit:
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When Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, professional and amateur poets immediately began writing verses that expressed the shock and despair shared by millions. A similar thing had happened in 1865 when President Abraham Lincoln was shot to death by actor John Wilkes Booth.
The most famous poem from that time is Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” While no poetic homage to Kennedy has become as famous as Whitman’s poignant elegy, many of America’s finest poets did respond to the latter event, which seared the consciousness of a generation. This exhibit displays a few examples, drawn from University of Delaware Library Special Collections.
This single case exhibition was originally on display in the Morris Library Information Room from November 22- December 18, 2013.
Tags: Poetry; Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
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