Recurring theme Challenge Essay
Have you ever suffered a loss you felt you could not recover from?
Have you ever wondered how to move forward despite difficulty?
In “Oh Captain, My Captain,” by Walt Whitman, and “Nothing
Gold Can Stay,” by Robert Frost, both poems share the recurring
theme of the importance of making meaning from loss. “Oh
Captain, My Captain” uses the metaphor of a ship’s journey to
show the hardships of the country’s Civil War that are made
worse when the “Captain” of the “ship,” Abraham Lincoln, is
assassinated. “Nothing Gold Can Stay” uses the cycle of a day to
deal with loss that is present in all of life.
The theme of making meaning from loss is shown in “Oh Captain,
My Captain,” as the poet describes the difficult journey a ship has
been on. The ship is a metaphor for the United States during the
Civil War, when the South was fighting against the North. The
poet writes,”The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we
sought is won,” to show how the country has managed to stay
together despite “every rack” or obstacle. But at the end of its
journey it has to deal with the loss of its “Captain,” as shown in
the lines “But I, with mournful tread, walk the deck my captain
lies, fallen cold and dead.” Here the poet shows the theme of
finding meaning from loss, as the country struggles to come back
together despite losing its president. It must find a way to carry
on, despite loss.
In Robert Frost’s poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” he deals with
the theme of finding meaning through loss on a much simpler
level. The poem, which is only eight lines long, goes through the
progress of a day, from “Nature’s first green is gold,” when
everything seems fresh and full of possibility. But over the course
of a day, like the course of a life, “Eden sank to grief” when “Dawn
goes down today.” By the end of the poem, the poet reminds us
that loss is always present in life, and that “Nothing gold can
stay.” This theme reflects the same underlying meaning of “Oh
Captain, My Captain,” because both poems deal with loss and the
need to persevere in spite of it.
Life is full of challenges, losses, and frequent sorrow. But as the
two poems “Oh Captain, my Captain,” and “Nothing Gold Can
Stay” we can still find purpose despite challenges. Indeed, it is
life’s challenges: dealing with the loss of a loved one or a leader,
seeing the loss that is present in the natural world every day, that
helps us make our lives purposeful. Making meaning from loss
and hardship helps us all rise to our fullest potential even in the
face of grief.