Directions: answer these questions about the poem

1. How many stanzas are in this poem? How many lines per stanza?

2. What is the rhyme scheme?

3. Read the first sentence (stanza one). What does exulting mean? Who is exulting, and
where are they?

4. Who is the narrator of this poem? What is his mood in the first stanza? Give text
evidence.

5. In the second stanza, one phrase is repeated 5 times. What is it? Why do you think
Whitman chose to repeat this phrase?

6. If you had to describe this poems mood(s) with two adjectives, what would they be?
Explain.

7. Paraphrase the last four lines of the poem in your own words. Compare your paraphrase
to other students and discuss.

8. Find two additional examples of repetition in the poem. What is the authors purpose for
repeating each word/line/phrase?

9. This poem is an example of an extended metaphor. What is Whitman comparing? Give 4

examples of parts of the ship and what they could actually represent.

10. What form is this poem? (ballad, ode, limerick, elegy, sonnet, etc.) Explain why you think
Walt Whitman chose to use this form.