BY WALT WHITMAN
O CAPTAIN!
MY CAPTAIN!
Consider:
How can the
death of a
famous person
affect the world?
Think of a well-known or famous person
(celebrity, politician, writer, musician, sports
figure, community leader) who died.
This person may even have died before you
were born.
How did this person’s death affect the
country, the world, or you?
Why was this person considered special?
AN ELEGY
An elegy is a mournful
poem which is usually
a lament for someone
who has died.
“O Captain! My Captain”
is an elegy for Abraham
Lincoln.
HISTORICAL
CONTEXT
Whitman wrote “O Captain! My Captain!” soon after the end of the Civil War. Although the
conflict had complex social, political, and economic origins, it largely erupted over the
matter of whether to allow slavery in the western territories. Northern states had already
outlawed the institution of slavery, and they protested the establishment of new slave
states. By contrast, Southern states depended on slave labor, and they worried that any
limit placed on slavery portended the end of the institution as a whole. The tension over the
future of American slavery came to a head in 1860 with the election of President Abraham
Lincoln, who opposed the establishment of slave states in the West. At first seven, then
eleven slave states declared their secession from the Union and, in 1861, organized under
the banner of the Confederate flag. The war waged on for four bloody years, until the
Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, surrendered on April 9, 1865. Only five days after the
war’s official end, Lincoln was assassinated by the disaffected actor John Wilkes Booth. It’s
in the immediate wake of these events that Whitman wrote this poem, recording the
country’s contradictory atmosphere of celebration and devastation.
SUMMARY
‘O Captain! My Captain!’ by Walt Whitman is a heart-touching elegy on the death of the
American President Abraham Lincoln.
The speaker’s (The speaker in a piece of poetry is the narrator of the work. It could be the
poet, an imagined character, a creature or even an object.) coming to terms with the death
of his fallen comrade is the focal point of the poem at hand.
At the start of the poem, the speaker attempts to come to reality as he observes his dead
captain on the deck. Slowly and gradually, he realizes that the change is permanent and life
must go, regardless.
The end of the Civil War was supposedly a moment of rejoicing for the American populace;
instead, it became an event of mourning. The conclusion of the Civil War has brought with it
national mourning and a period of reflection
Poem Title’s
Meaning
The title of the poem, ‘O Captain! My Captain!’ refers to Abraham Lincoln as a captain of
the ship. Here, the “ship” is a symbol of the civil war fought to liberate the slaves.
According to the poet, the ship is sailing nearer to the shore, meaning the war is about to
end. They have achieved their coveted goal. Being a moment of victory, everyone is happy.
However, they have to consider, at the same time, that their metaphorical “captain” of the
ship is no more.
When he lived, he guided the multitude with his fatherly guidance. After his death, the
nation is fatherless. In this agony, the poet writes the verses. However, the mood of the
poem is not gloomy. Even if they have lost Lincoln, the dream Lincoln has seen is not lost.
STRUCTURE
The poem, ‘O Captain! My Captain!’ consists of:
3 stanzas in totality.
Having 2 quatrains in each. (A quatrain is a stanza consisting of four lines.)
This poem is an elegy. (An elegy is known as a mourning poem.)
Free verse form. (no set rhyme scheme).
Yet there are some instances where one can find the use of rhyming. EG. “red” and
“dead” rhyme.
Iambic meter in this poem.
LITERARY DEVICES
Most of Walt Whitman’s poems use repetition and rhythm to render a spellbinding poetic
beauty.
He uses anaphora constantly, as several verses begin with the same word/ phrase.
Anaphora is generally used for joyous chants and rendering celebratory feelings in a
poem’s entirety.
‘O Captain! My Captain!’ makes use of ‘father’ and ‘heart’ to mourn the death of
assassinated Abraham Lincoln.
The fallen ship’s captain is a reference to Abraham Lincoln, whereas the ship is also an
allusion to the United States of America during its early years of independence
THEMES
Whitman uses the themes of victory, lamentation, grief, sadness, and loss in his poem, ‘O
Captain! My Captain!’.
Though this poem concerns the theme of victory, it contains a sad note on the death of
Lincoln.
The poet creates contrast by transposing the images of the joyous crowd beside the
lifeless body of the captain. Along with that, the themes of grief and lamentation are
important aspects of this piece.
STANZA 1
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
LINES 1-4
The opening lines of the poem depict scenes of rejoicing following a ship's victorious
return to harbor. The speaker addresses the captain as he congratulates him on
navigating the ship through a "fearful" (i.e. frightening) journey filled with "racks," or
storms.
After all these dangers, the ship has returned home, having won the "prize" of
victory. The port celebrates by greeting the victorious ship with cheers and bells.
The ship is described as "steady" but also battle-hardened, "grim," and "daring," thus
emphasizing its bravery and longevity in the face of long dangers.
The lines are made up of two rhyming couplets, so the rhyme scheme follows a regular
pattern of AABB. = celebratory tone. (the poem is an extended metaphor for the
Union's joy when the American Civil War ended in 1865. This triumph is compared to a
ship coming home to harbor. These lines suggest that everyone in the Union rejoiced
with equal fervor at the end of a long and painful journey.)
The poem opens with a repeated apostrophe =,addressed to Abraham Lincoln
LINES 5-6
After the celebratory tone of the previous lines, these next four lines come as
something of a shock.
The speaker suddenly interrupts himself, proclaiming "But O heart! heart! heart!" The
use of the conjunction "but" emphasizes the abrupt change of tone from the
triumphant. The repetition of "heart" creates a sense of repetitive beating, much like
the beating of a heart itself.
The speaker now addresses—his heart, and then exclaims over the "bleeding drops
of red," ( sight of the captain's blood spilling across the deck of the ship.) But the
poet soon abandons metaphor and admits flatly that "on the deck my Captain lies, /
Fallen cold and dead." The directness of these lines, which contain little figurative
language, reinforces the harsh and cold reality of the captain's death. The fullstop of
line 8 bolsters this sense of finality.
The captain who has "fallen cold and dead" represents President Lincoln, who was
assassinated in 1865, just after the Union won the Civil War.
The juxtaposition between the rejoicing on shore and the grief on board the ship thus
represents the feeling of many Americans like the poet Walt Whitman, who were
forced to contend with the loss of their leader in his greatest moment of triumph.
LINES 9-12
These lines return to the celebratory scenes of the first lines of the poem
The speaker describes how the harbor welcomes the ship back to port: with ringing
bells, flags, bugles, bouquets, and wreaths. Yet all these signs of triumph are intended
to honor the one person who cannot join in the communal celebration: the captain,
who has "fallen cold and dead" on the deck of the ship.
The speaker clearly feels the captain's loss
Note the way he begs the captain to "rise up." When this phrase appears in line 9,
it is a subtle transformation of the phrase "O Captain! My Captain!" It turns out
that this exclamation is not just in praise of the captain, as it looked to be in the
first stanza; it is actually a way of imploring the captain to rise up from where he
has fallen, so that he can "hear the bells" in the rejoicing city.
The speaker then repeats the phrase, begging the captain to "rise up" and see all
the celebrations dedicated to him. This anaphora gives the impression that the
speaker actually believes—or is trying to convince himself—that the captain
might rise again and come back to life
LINES 13-18
The speaker's desperation reaches new heights here, as he continues to try to rouse
the captain. He exclaims "this arm beneath your head," implying that the speaker is
using his own arm try to physically lift the captain's head so that the captain can see
the rejoicings on shore.
The second stanza ends in the same way as the first—with a full stop following the
word "dead", but the addition of the "You've" adds a more personal touch to the line.
In line 13 he refers to the captain as "dear father," an affectionate address. The
phrase "dear father" in one sense refers to President Lincoln's status as the
metaphorical "father" of the nation of the United States. = more personal.
By continuing to try to wake the captain, the speaker is seemingly attempting to deny
the harsh fact of the captain's death = denial of reality, and he even suggests that
the captain's death is all "some dream."
lines 17 and 18 puncture this illusion, since the speaker admits that the captain is
"pale and still," has no pulse, and can't feel his touch.
In a poem characterized by repeated direct address—"O Captain! my Captain!"—
the admission that the captain "does not answer" is a significant shift. These commas
create brief moments for the speaker to catch his breath and collect himself as he
lays out the reality that the Captain is never coming back.
LINES 19-24
Line 20, note how the stress falls on the final word "won," emphasizing the glory of the
ship's victory in battle. tThe celebratory nature of these lines takes on a much darker
and ironic tone. Although the ship is "safe and sound" and has survived a "fearful"
journey the captain "lies / Fallen cold and dead."
The stark juxtaposition between joy and mourning is underscored in the poem's final
lines, in which the speaker looks at the crowds as they celebrate, but feels
separated from them by his grief.
His grief increasingly isolates him from others, as he physically places a barrier
between himself and the crowds: they are on the shore and he is on the "deck" of the
ship where the captain lies dead.
He walks slowly and sadly, with "mournful tread," while everyone else around him
seems to be celebrating.
This final stanza again ends with the repetition of "fallen cold and dead," creating a
stark image as the poem itself comes to a close.