![]() “O Captain! my Captain!” is one of Whitman’s most recognized and anthologized poems––so much so that later in life Whitman was quoted as saying that he was almost sorry he ever wrote the poem. The relationship between the captain and the sailor (in this case the speaker) is one of admiration for the captain’s leadership, and charisma. The speaker is completely distraught at the fact his captain has passed away. The captain lying cold and dead on the deck of the ship sets a solemn and somber tone by contrasting the scene before with celebrations of the ship’s arrival in the harbor and the captain’s death. Six lines later the speaker notices the captain on the deck of the ship after having survived tough winds. The underlying meaning of the ship is the Union and the captain is Abraham Lincoln. The metaphor extends throughout the poem. This dramatic elegy is broken into three stanzas and begins with the speaker shouting to his captain that their trip is done. A revised version of the poem then appears in “President Lincoln’s Burial Hymn” in Passage to India (1871) and finally in the “Memories of President Lincoln” cluster in Leaves of Grass (1881). “O’Captain! My Captain!” first appeared in the Saturday Press on November 4, 1865, and was later published in Sequel to Drum-Taps (1865-1866). The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,įrom fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills,įor you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding,įor you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, The poem uses short form of poetic lines.O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, Although most of his poetry is supportive of the political issues but in most of his poetry Whitman dealt with the theme of democracy. Like William Wordsworth Whitman believed that everyday life and everyday people are fit for the subjects of poetry. We can see a sense of variety in his poetry. Walt Whitman has always tried to experiment with poetic diction on different level by including slangs, colloquialism, and dialects. But in spite of that he tries in vain to wake him up. He is aware that their leader will never rise up again. The above line registers that the writer so anxious for a miracle from the god. ![]() “My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still.” He considers the death of the leader of their country as a great loss. In the last paragraph of the poem the writer requests to the dead leader to rise again to stand again for the country and to enjoy the fruit of the victory that he had brought by his own shoulder. O Captain! My Captain! as an Elegy of Abraham LincolnĪs the speaker was mourning the death of Lincoln and at the same time he also sprays lilac onto the coffin and by doing this he serves homage to the great leader.When America was having the simultaneous rate of death and population growth then the poet tried to focus on the individual growth of the state. The dead body of the leader is really important. The last phase of the poem is a mixed image of one side the public enjoying the victory over the enemy at the same time the poet is carrying the body of the leader. But the amount of genocide happened there in the state was really noteworthy. The death of their favourite leader was an added nook to the history of America. The writer, Whitman focused on the individual loss. Lots of people were killed almost like cattle and bloodsheds drained through the city road like water. The situation of the country was really volatile and vociferous. The society of the contemporary period of the United States of America confronted a huge amount of social dilapidation. It became almost impossible for the state to raise its head again. It had almost broken the backbone of the states. But the inevitable period of the civil war almost stunted the growth of the country. The state expanded to a large number of areas. The country tried to rise in its all possible ways. During the course of the 19th century America made a tremendous growth in its social arena.
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