Grasping general content:

What does its layout convey?

expresses his grief and the mourning of a nation in the loss of a great leader,
President Abraham Lincoln.
The poem, "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman re-imagines the assassination
of Abraham Lincoln by using emotions filled with shock and regret of losing a father
figure. Walt Whitman has a patriotic attitude towards this poem as he describes
Abraham Lincoln and all that he did for America by using imagery to develop a scene
similar to the reality. The poet conveys his deep admiration for the achievements of
Abraham Lincoln. Whitman shares his form by using a physical way of laying out and
his attitude through the use of sound devices such as the iambic meter and the use of
amphibrach. He also used repetition as a part of his sound device, to give reader more
insight of the sorrow emotions that he has regarding Abraham Lincoln.…show more
content…
The quote that he uses, expresses his feelings of shock for the captain’s sudden death.
"Fallen cold and dead" (Whitman, lines 4, 12 and 20). The quote explains the regret of
losing a man who the poet admired for so long and is now "fallen cold and dead." The
poet is trying to deliver his painful and almost a heart-rending of a feeling to the reader
by repeating the quote "fallen cold and dead." This quote explains the sudden death of a
great nationalist and has no chance of survival. It also gives reader an insight into how
the people on the shores are desperately waiting for the captain’s arrival and celebrate
after his heroic and an epic voyage but at the end, all their celebrating of joyfulness
turns in a misery. The poet’s view of his admirer in this poem, the captain, is very
patriotic as the captain went through a monumental voyage and prevailed victorious
even after his death. The effective words used to describe the captain's death, creates an
unsettled and rather heartbreaking atmosphere among the reader and the characters in
the situation. Whitman uses the physical structure to explain the form of his poem. The
layout of the poem comprises the change of emotions, in every new stanza. Stanza one
spreads out to convey the poet's joy and happiness. He is so happy that he can't be
contained.
What does it suggest?
y Captain!” The speaker compares President Lincoln to the captain of a ship and
then refers to him as my captain, emphasizing his own personal connection to the
president. The poem is not titled “Our Captain”; rather, the speaker seems to feel that
President Lincoln is his captain in particular.
The theme of the poem is that victory comes with a price. The speaker states that no
matter the ship (United States) has braved the tough storm of civil war but it has lost its
Captain (Abraham Lincoln). The speaker is torn between relief and despair.

Functional style, substyle and genre:

The belles-letters style, poem, elegy
Jim Clark the Re Animator - O Captain! My Captain! - Walt Whitman - Poem
Animation - Here's a virtual movie of the great Walt Whitman reading his best known
poem O Captain! My Captain! The Poem paid tribute to President Abraham Lincoln and
was written shortly after Lincoln's assassination. "O Captain! My Captain!" is an
extended metaphor poem written in 1865 by Walt Whitman, about the death of
American president Abraham Lincoln. The poem was first published in the pamphlet
Sequel to Drum-Taps which assembled 18 poems regarding the American Civil War,
including another Lincoln elegy, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". It was
included in Whitman's comprehensive collection Leaves of Grass beginning with its
fourth edition published in 1867. Walt Whitman composed the poem "O Captain! My
Captain!" after Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865. The poem is classified as an
elegy or mourning poem, and was written to honor Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president
of the United States. Walt Whitman was born in 1819 and died in 1892, and the
American Civil War was the central event of his life. Whitman was a staunch Unionist
during the Civil War. He was initially indifferent to Lincoln, but as the war pressed on
Whitman came to love the president, though the two men never met.[1] The fallen
captain in the poem refers to Abraham Lincoln, captain of the ship that is the United
States of America. The first line establishes the poem's mood, one of relief that the Civil
War has ended, "our fearful trip is done." The next line references the ship, America,
and how it has "weathered every rack", meaning America has braved the tough storm of
the Civil War, and "the prize we sought", the end of slavery, "is won". The following
line expresses a mood of jubilation of the Union winning the war as it says "the people
all exulting;" however, the next line swiftly shifts the mood when it talks of the
grimness of the ship, and the darker side of the war. Many lost their lives in the
American Civil War, and although the prize that was sought was won, the hearts still
ache amidst the exultation of the people. The repetition of heart in line five calls
attention to the poet's vast grief and heartache because the Captain has bled and lies
still, cold, and dead (lines six through eight). This is no doubt referencing the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln and Whitman's sorrow for the death of his idol. In the
second stanza the speaker again calls out to the captain to "rise up and hear the bells," to
join in the celebration of the end of the war. The next three lines tell the captain to "rise
up" and join in on the revelries because it is for him. He is the reason for their
merriment: "for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills; for you bouquets and
ribbon'd wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding; for you they call, the swaying mass,
their eager faces turning". Everyone is celebrating what Lincoln accomplished; this is
not only the abolishment of slavery but also the formation of the Union and the coming
together of people. Again the poet calls to the Captain as if he had never fallen. The
poet does not wish to acknowledge the death of his beloved Captain, and he even asks if
it is some dream (line 15) that the Captain has fallen "cold and dead". The third stanza
begins in a somber mood as the poet has finally accepted that the Captain is dead and
gone. Here there is vivid and darker imagery such as "his lips are pale and still" and the
reader can picture the dead Captain lying there still and motionless with "no pulse nor
will". In line 17, the poet calls out "My Captain," and in line 18, the poet refers to the
Captain as "My father". This is referring to Lincoln as the father of the United States.
Lines 19 and 20 are concluding statements that summarize the entire poem. The United
States is "anchor'd safe and sound". It is safe now from war with "its voyage closed and
done, from fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won". The country has
accomplished its goal of the abolishment of slavery and the unification of people after a
fearful war. In line 21, the examples of apostrophe, ordering "shores to exult," and
"bells to ring" are again referring to how the nation is celebrating while "I with
mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead". “O Captain! My
Captain!” became one of Whitman’s most famous poems, one that he would read at the
end of his famous lecture about the Lincoln assassination. Whitman became so
identified with the poem that late in life he remarked, “Damn My Captain...I’m almost
sorry I ever wrote the poem. Kind Regards Jim Clark All rights are reserved on this
video recording copyright Jim Clark 2015
Specific type of text: an elegy or an extended metaphor

Similarities and differences:

An elegy is a poem of mourning.  Most elegies are about someone who has died.  Some
elegies mourn a way of life that is gone forever.

A lyric is any fairly short poem, uttered by a single speaker, who expresses a state of
mind or a process of perception, thought, and feeling. “O Captain, My Captain,” is a
ceremonial poem uttered in a public voice on a public occasion, namely on the death of
Abhraham Lincoln. As in many other lyric poems, there is a strong prevalence of
objective or dramatic element.

O Captain, My Captain” is sung in the voice of a Union recruit. He is a young boy; he

has sailed on the ship of state with his captain, whom he calls, Oedipally, “dear father”;
the tide of war has now turned and victory is in sight, as cheering crowds welcome the
victorious ship. At this very moment the captain is shot, and dies. The moving turn of
the poem comes two-thirds of the way through the poem. In the rest (previous) two
stanzas the boy addresses the captain as someone still living, a “you” who, cradled in
the boy’s arm, can hear the words directed to him. But in the third stanza the young
sailor un-willingly resorts to third-person reference, marking his captain as dead: “My
Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still.” The hierarchy of commander—
remote from his troops—has been lessened to the hierarchy of captain—sharing a ship
with his men—and then lessened to the familial hierarchy of father and son, as
Lincoln’s relation to others becomes ever more democratic, even intimate.

It is a direct unburdening of the author’s overweighed heart. He does not materially

differ in his feeling from his fellow-citizens, and everyone, in reading the poetry aloud,
adopt the emotion as his own. There is certainly no dramatic emotion in the heart of the
speaker in the poem. But there is definitely a figurative situation and representation of
the Ship of State, coming in from its long voyage, - that is, the civil war, - and a picture
of Lincoln, the captain, lying dead upon the deck. These objective elements enable us to
grasp the situation, and more delicately suggests Lincoln, whose name does not occur in
the poem.

Two stylistic features—its meter and its use of refrain—mark “O Captain” as a

designedly democratic, and blends its lyrical and dramatic elements. In each stanza, four
seven-beat lines are followed by a slightly changing ballad refrain. Whitman has chosen
to speak now as a sailor-boy, the diction of the poem offers the clichés of victory that
such a boy might use: “Our fearful trip is done, … the prize we sought is won, / The
port is near.”  Everything on shore adheres to the expected conventions of popular
celebration—“For you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills, ...” Even “the bleeding
drops of red,” the “mournful tread” of the sailor, and the captain “fallen cold and dead”
come from the clichés of war-journalism.

Lyrical poetry usually follows a rhyme scheme. Throughout the poem there is a distinct
rhyme scheme, - AABCDEFE, GGHIJEKE, and LLMNOEPE for each stanza
respectively, -which is unusual for Whitman. The poem is an elegy – melancholic,
mournful and contemplative. The melodic flow of words synchronizing with the somber
mood and intense sadness makes it one of the most memorable lyrical elegies.

Last modified: Sunday, 8 April 2018, 12:27 PM

O Captain! My Captain!" is an extended metaphor poem written in 1865 by Walt
Whitman, about the death of American president Abraham Lincoln. The poem was first
published in the pamphlet Sequel to Drum-Taps which assembled 18 poems regarding
the American Civil War, including another Lincoln elegy, "When Lilacs Last in the
Dooryard Bloom'd". It was included in Whitman's comprehensive collection Leaves of
Grass beginning with its fourth edition published in 1867.

Analysis

Walt Whitman composed the poem "O Captain! My Captain!" after Abraham Lincoln's
assassination in 1865. The poem is classified as an elegy or mourning poem, and was
written to honor Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. Walt
Whitman was born in 1819 and died in 1892, and the American Civil War was the
central event of his life. Whitman was a staunch Unionist during the Civil War. He was
initially indifferent to Lincoln, but as the war pressed on Whitman came to love the
president, though the two men never met.

The fallen captain in the poem refers to Abraham Lincoln, captain of the ship that is the
United States of America. The first line establishes the poem's mood, one of relief that
the Civil War has ended, "our fearful trip is done." The next line references the ship,
America, and how it has "weathered every rack", meaning America has braved the
tough storm of the Civil War, and "the prize we sought", the preservation of the Union,
"is won". The following line expresses a mood of jubilation of the Union winning the
war as it says "the people all exulting;" however, the next line swiftly shifts the mood
when it talks of the grimness of the ship, and the darker side of the war. Many lost their
lives in the American Civil War, and although the prize that was sought was won, the
hearts still ache amidst the exultation of the people. The repetition of heart in line five
calls attention to the poet's vast grief and heartache because the Captain has bled and
lies still, cold, and dead (lines six through eight). This is no doubt referencing the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln and Whitman's sorrow for the death of his idol.

In the second stanza the speaker again calls out to the captain to "rise up and hear the
bells," to join in the celebration of the end of the war. The next three lines tell the
captain to "rise up" and join in on the revelries because it is for him. He is the reason for
their merriment: "for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills; for you bouquets
and ribbon'd wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding; for you they call, the swaying
mass, their eager faces turning". Everyone is celebrating what Lincoln accomplished;
the abolition of slavery and the unification of the people after a fearful war. Again the
poet calls to the Captain as if he had never fallen. The poet does not wish to
acknowledge the death of his beloved Captain, and he even asks if it is some dream
(line 15) that the Captain has fallen "cold and dead".

The third stanza begins in a somber mood as the poet has finally accepted that the
Captain is dead and gone. Here there is vivid and darker imagery such as "his lips are
pale and still" and the reader can picture the dead Captain lying there still and
motionless with "no pulse nor will". In line 17, the poet calls out "My Captain," and in
line 18, the poet refers to the Captain as "My father". This is referring to Lincoln as the
father of the United States. Lines 19 and 20 are concluding statements that summarize
the entire poem. The United States is "anchor'd safe and sound". It is safe now from war
with "its voyage closed and done, from fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object
won". In line 21, the examples of apostrophe, ordering "shores to exult," and "bells to
ring" are again referring to how the nation is celebrating while "I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead".

Throughout the poem there is a distinct rhyme scheme, which is unusual for Whitman.
The rhyme scheme in "O Captain! My Captain!" is AABCDEFE, GGHIJEKE, and
LLMNOEPE for each stanza respectively. Two examples of alliteration are in line 10
"flag is flung", as well as in line 19 "safe and sound". Repetition occurs many times in
this poem, for example "O Captain! My Captain", and "fallen cold and dead".

“O Captain! My Captain!” became one of Whitman’s most famous poems, one that he
would read at the end of his famous lecture about the Lincoln assassination. Whitman
became so identified with the poem that late in life he remarked, “Damn My
Captain...I’m almost sorry I ever wrote the poem.”

Last modified: Sunday, 8 April 2018, 12:23 PM

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