DSC 201/ AEC 201- O Captain! My Captain! (3) 24,25, 26,

Walt Whitman

At the start of the American Civil War, Whitman moved from New York to Washington, D.C., where he held a series of government jobs—first with the Army Paymaster's Office and later with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He volunteered in the army hospitals as a nurse. Whitman's poetry was informed by his wartime experience, maturing into reflections on death and youth, the brutality of war, sabotage, and patriotism. Although he never met the American President, Whitman saw Abraham Lincoln several times between 1861 and 1865 sometimes at close quarters. The poet himself is the persona in "O Captain! My Captain!"  and the great Captain Abraham Lincoln is the persona addressing here.

The poem was included in the 1867 edition of "Leaves of Grass" and after several revisions its final republication took place in the 1881 edition of "Leaves of Grass." The poem rhymes using an AABBCDED rhyme scheme and is also designed for recitation. It is in nine quatrains organized in three stanzas. Each stanza has two quatrains of four seven-beat lines followed by a four-line refrain which changes slightly from stanza to stanza in a tetrameter/trimeter ballad beat. The poem was Whitman's most popular one during his lifetime and the only one to be anthologized before his death.

The poem has imagery relating to the sea throughout. Whitman invokes religious imagery making Lincoln a "messianic" figure. The poem describes the United States as a ship which is a metaphor here.

The poem utilizes elements of war journalism, such as "the bleeding drops of red" and "fallen cold and dead." The poem abstracted the war into social effect and collective sentiment converting public violence into a memory of shared loss by remaking history in the shape of a ballad. The poem begins by describing Lincoln as the captain of the nation. Leadership and parenthood is another theme in the poem. By the end of the first stanza, Lincoln has become America's "dear father" as his death is revealed. Lincoln is shot and dies.He is assassinated in 1865 after the American Civil War.

 Victory isvanother theme in this poem which while engaging the poem in mourning Lincoln also has a sense of triumph that the ship or America or Lincoln or the Civil War has completed its journey.  The poem has two different moods. One is on the shore which is completely different from the mood on the ship. The people on the shore are exulted, eagerly waiting for the return of the Captain from the fearful voyage. They decorated the shore with flowers, plays music with the use of trumpet and all. They are waiting with bouquets and ribboned wreaths to welcome the captain of the ship. They have crowded on the shores with flags and bugles in honour of the captain. But, on the other hand, the ship is gloomy and mournful. The captain lies dead, there is no sound, no voice. Only the crying is heard and the deck becomes red with blood. The lines "The captain’s lips are pale and still, "He does not move his arm and does not have a pulse, and "He lies fallen on the deck, cold and dead" echo the condition of the assasinated hero.

The common mass who are eagerly waiting for the Captain to return from his "fearful trip", are exulting upon the port.

The words and phrases that reflect the tragic mood of the persona are "pale", " still", "does not feel", " no pulse", & "nor will." The most often repeated phrase in the second stanza of the poem is " for you". Whitman wishes to create a fantastic though mournful scenario to pay a homage to the great American President who was put to death in 1865. "While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring" is an example of personification. The line "The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting" is an example of Personification. The line But "O heart! heart! heart!" is an example of Repitition and Exclamation. Here, "Here Captain! dear father!" is an example of Tautology. The line "While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring" is an example of 

19. Describe the grief that the speaker in the poem feels at the death of his Captain.

A: The speaker in the poem is overcome by grief at the death of his captain. His heart beats and bleeds for his captain as he see’s him lie on the deck, cold and dead. He mourns for his captain and feels as if he is dreaming that his captain is no more. He keeps asking for his captain to rise and witness how everyone is cheering for him. The speaker is absolutely heart-broken that while the nation celebrates the victory in the battle, his captain and great leader has passed away and will not be part of all the celebration.

20. Glance through the poem again to find who the speaker addresses in the first two stanzas and the last stanza.

A: In the poem, during the first two stanzas, the speaker addresses his captain. He desperately wants his captain to rise up and witness how people are celebrating the victory in the battle and how they are waiting to felicitate the captain.

   In the third stanza, as the speaker realizes the captain is dead, he speaks about his own grief. He is not just addressing himself, trying to cope with the death of his great leader but he is also addressing everyone else to let them know that the great captain has passed away.