WHAT 15 "°O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!” ABOUT? WALT WHITMAN'S POEM "°O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!’” 15 ONE OF THE POET'S MOST FAMOUS WORKS. IT WAS WITTEN SHORTLY AFTER THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN ON APRIL 1S, 1865, AND THE END OF THE U.S. CIVIL WAR. IT BECAME IMMEDIATELY POPULAR AND HAS REMAINVED ONE OF WHITMAN'S MOST WIDELY REPRODUCED POEMS. THE POEM {5 NOTABLE FOR [15 EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO THE DEATH OF LINCOLN AND BECAUSE IT REPRESENTS A DEPARTURE FROM WHITMAN'S TYPICAL STYLELINCOLN'S PRESIDENCY (1061-1865) COINCIDED WITH ONE OF THE MOST DIVISIVE TIMES IN AMERICAN HISTORY, THE COUNTRY ENTERED INTO THE CIVIL WAR, ENCOUNTERED YEARS OF BLOODY FIGHTING, SAW THE END OF SLAVERY IN THE NATION, AND ENDED THE WAR WITH A LINGERING BITTERNESS. THOUGH IT 15 UNCLEAR IF THE TWO ACTUALLY EVER MET (WHITMAN WAS ONLY BEGINNING TO GAIN FAME AT THE TIME), ITS CLEAR THAT WHITMAN ADMIRED THE PRESIDENT. BESIDES WRITING POETRY, WHITMAN SERVED AS A NURSE TO WOUNDED SOLDIERS DURING THE WAR. HE EVEN SPENT TIME AS A PRISONER OF WAR @ WHITMAN WROTE SEVERAL POEMS ABOUT THE TRAGEDY, INCLUDING '"HUSW'D BE THE CAMPS TO-DAY,'" AND "THIS DUST WAS ONCE THE MAN'’. QUT OF THESE POEMS, °°0 CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!’ BECAME ESPECIALLY POPULAR AND WIDELY CIRCULATED, LIKELY DUE TO ITS FAMILIAR FORM, SONG-LIKE TONE, AND MEMORABLE LINES0 Caffe Copel ont leadoff if done, [le slap bag we a ea ved fe pie se song lis, won baat Aal she + ofow ones; pee The [gat ad dein: eee fey ops ob les fey Cobels tn cof aud chad, 6 Cel Cpe op end eae Nese op ~- for gow fhe ay -- orgs fe bole 61 gon Gui cad abou d weal —- a shows, e-crouden. For gor bon colle Seog 098. flaw tage (otf:{tis Some heat ip oft fae oft We §; 0 no las (i Gor ot My la desea as tal aint, 19 fffe v9r lf (le i andl or io Guy Sound j rai ear et en Ha ae eeu jects Slee “elSETTING AND SYMBOLISM ""O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!”” UIELIZES A SERLES OF SYMBOLS RELATED TO SAILING. THERE 15 THE CAPTAIN, WHO IS A AEFERENCE TO LINCOLN. THERE ARE ALSO REFERENCES TO THE '’KEEL'” AND “"DECK,’” PARTS OF THE SHIP WHICH HAS RETURNED TO "'PORT."” THE SHIP HAS ''WEATHER'D'' A DIFFICULT VOYAGE, A SYMBOL FOR THE BLOODY CIVIL WAR. THE SETTING OF A SHIP ARRIVING IN A PORT AFTER MAKING IT THROUGH A PERILOUS VOYAGE AND THE DEATH OF [15 CAPTAIN IS A FITTING WAY YO CHARACTERIZE THE MOMENT IN WHICH THE NATION'S LEADER DIED, AT THE CONCLUSION OF A BLOODY WAR, JUST AS THE COUNTRY RETURNED TO ITS HOME "’PORT'” OF UNITY.THEMES, LOSS, GRIEF, AND VICTORY ARE CENTRAL TREMES IN "'Q CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN. ”” THE CAPTAIN HAS "’FALLEN COLD AND DEAD,'” THE POEM STATES THREE TIMES, EMPHASIZING THE LOSS TOTHE SHIP. BY COMPARISON, THE U.S. WAS FACING THE DEATH OF ITS LEADER, LINCOLN THE SPEAKER OF THE POEM AND THE CROWDS THE POEM DESCRIBES ANE EXPERIENCING GRIEF. THE SIGATS AND SOUNDS OF EXPRESSIONS OF MOURNING ARE NOTED BY REFERENCES TO BELLS, BUGLE CALLS, BOUQUETS OF FLOWERS, AND CROWDS CALLING OUT. THE POEM ALSO CELEBRATES VICTORY. THE SHEP HAS MADE IT THROUGH A DIFFICULT, PERILOUS VOYAGE. THIS FACT 15 MENTION ED IN THE FIRST STANZA AND REPEATED IN THE THIRD, EVEN AS THE POETIC SPEAKER CONTINUES TO MOURN THE DEATH OF THE CAPTAINlaveweo METARHOR Id AIS ELEGY, WHITMAN USES THE CHTENDED METAPHOR, Ot THE CONSISTENT USE OF A FIGULATIVE COCA TO PORTRAY A LITERARY REALITY THROUGHOUT A WORK OF ART, OF LINCOLN ASA SHIP'S CAPTAIN TO PORTRAY ENCOLN AS THE NATION'S LEADER, AS THE POEM DESCHIBES A SHIP JUST ARRIVING {N THE HARBOR TO A GRAND CELEBRATION, THE NATION 1S LITERALLY JUST ENDING A WAK AND IS READY TO CELEBRATE. IN THE POEM, TRE CARTALN OF THE SHR SES TE ‘SHORES A~CHOWDINGY AND THE "EAGER FACES TURNING AS THE SHLP SAULS IN. WHILE IN REALITY, THE NATION 15 LOOKING TO THEIR PRESIDENT WITH ADMIRATION AND EXCITEMENT AND IN (NEED OF LEADERS FOR WHAT WILL AEN. NEI. (UI THE CAPTAIN LAYS UPON THE SHP'S DECK. "FALLEN COLD AND DEAD.” ME WALL NOT WAKEN. [NV THE REAL WORLD, THE PRESIDENT 1S GONE, AND JUST AS THE POEM’S NARRATOR, AN ASSUMED CREWDMAN, "WALKS WITH MOUBNFUL TREAD,” WHITMAN WALKS WITH (MOURNFUL TREAD IN THE NEW REALITY OF AIS BELOVED NATION. ‘TN HS GRIEF WALTMAN HAS CREATED A DIRGE, OW A SONG FOR THE DEAD. THIS 15 BECAUSE WALTMAN CONSIDERS HIS POEMS AS SONGS AND CUEATES THEM IN THAT MANNEK USING METEL, FORM, AND RENE, EXTENDED METAPHOR,fouM BEYOND THE RHYTHMIC TAMBIC PENTAMETER, WHITMAN FINDS OTHER WAYS TO TRULY MAKE THIS POEM A DINGE. JUST AS SONGS HAVE ‘VERSES AND A CHORUS, WHITMAN ALSO BUILDS HIS POEM IN TAREE STANZAS, WITH EACH HAVING A VERSE AND CHORUS THE VERSE 1S THE FIRST FOUR LINES OF EACH STANZA WITH TWO COUPLETS PER VERSE. A COUPLET CONTAINS TWO LINES OF METER THAT THYME. FOR EJAMPLE, THE FIRST VERSE RAYM ES THE END OF LENE ONE WATH THE END OF LINE TWO: ‘0 CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! OUR FEARFUL TRIP 15 DONE: /OUR SHLP HAS WEATAER'D EVERY RACK, THE PRIZE WE SOUGHT 15 WON.” THE CHORUS 15 THE LAST FOUR LINES OF EACH STANZA. IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY, THE CHORUS 15 BASICALLY ONE SET OF COUPLETS SPLIT UP IN AWAY TO CREATE FOUR LINES. THE SECOND AND FOURTH LINE OF EACH CHORUS RHYMES AS THE END OF A COUPLET WOULD HAVE. FOR EXAMPLE, INV THE CHORUS OF THE FIRST STANZA ‘RED’ RHYMES WIETH “DEAD.were INQ CAPTALN! My CAPTALN!” WE SEE WHITMAN USING IAMBLC PENTAMETER. THIS 15 A RNYTHM WHICH STRESSES EVERY OTHER SYLLABLE 90 THAT YOU HCA TATUM TATUM TA TUM BEAT AS YOU NERD Ok SPEMTHE LINES. YOU CAN CLEARLY WEAK ITN LES SUCH AS "WHOLE FOLLOW EYES THE STEADY EEL! OR "MY FATHER DOES NOT FEEL MY ARM, KE RAS NO PULSE NOK, WIL.” OCCASIONALLY WHITMAN DOES FALLOUT OF THE SAMALC PENTAMETEX RHTTAM. THIS COULD SUGNAPY THAT WILE HE 1S GHIEVING HE CANNOT [MAINTAIN ASTEADY KAYTHM, JUS AS SOMEONE WEEEING WOULD NOT CRYIN A STEADY RAYTAM, THERE ABE OUTBURSTS THAT CHANGE TAE RRITAM, ‘THE BUGGEST AMPLE OF THKS {5 IN THE TITLE PHEASE STSELF, WHERE THE STRESSED RAYTHIM FALLS AS FOLLOWS WITH "Q CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!” THE AOYTHDM STSELE BREAKS WITH TWO UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES BETWEEN THE END OF CAPTAIN” AND THE WORD MY.’ THE BNEAK OF RHYTHM HERE STGNUITES ‘WALTMAN CRYLNG OUT WITH GRIEF THAT 15 MORE IMPORTANT THAN METER,