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O Captain! My Captain!
by Walt Whitman
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.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
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This poem eulogizes President Abraham Lincoln, with a metaphor of a ship standing in for the former President’s tenure in office during the Civil War. From wiki:
“O Captain! My Captain!” is an extended metaphor poem written by Walt Whitman in 1865 about the death of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln. Well received upon publication, the poem was Whitman’s first to be anthologized and the most popular during his lifetime. Together with “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d“, “Hush’d Be the Camps To-day“, and “This Dust was Once the Man“, it is one of four poems written by Whitman about the death of Lincoln.
During the American Civil War, Whitman moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the government and volunteered at hospitals. Although he never met Lincoln, Whitman felt a connection to him and was greatly moved by Lincoln’s assassination. “My Captain” was first published in The Saturday Press on November 4, 1865, and appeared in Sequel to Drum-Taps later that year. He later included it in the collection Leaves of Grass and recited the poem at several lectures on Lincoln’s death.
Stylistically, the poem is uncharacteristic of Whitman’s poetry because of its rhyming, song-like flow, and simple “ship of state” metaphor. These elements likely contributed to the poem’s initial positive reception and popularity, with many celebrating it as one of the greatest American works of poetry. Critical opinion has shifted since the mid-20th century, with some scholars deriding it as conventional and unoriginal. The poem has made several appearances in popular culture; as it never mentions Lincoln, it has been invoked upon the death of several other heads of state. It is famously featured in Dead Poets Society (1989) and is frequently associated with the star of that film, Robin Williams.
Stanza One:
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.
The Speaker begins the first stanza by addressing the ship’s captain. Here the Captain is Abraham Lincoln and the ship is a metaphor for his Presidency during the American Civil War. The Speaker is celebrating that they have survived the journey, obtained the prize they were seeking, and are now nearing port – with the celebratory bells ringing out their achievement. This comparison will be familiar to readers as Lincoln oversaw a difficult but successful navigation of the war. In the poem’s metaphor, just as victory celebrations are within sight, the Speaker finds the captain dead. In reality, Lincoln was assassinated just after the Union’s victory.
Stanza Two:
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
The Speaker here speaks to the dead captain. In poetry, speaking to the dead – or at least someone who cannot reply – is called apostrophe. The Speaker implores the captain to rise up. He tells the dead man that the gathered, eager, joyous crowd is there for him. He then bemoans again that the man is dead. This reflects the poet’s feelings for the death of Lincoln at the moment of victory.
It is notable that the Speaker refers to the captain as “father.” This denotes both respect and love. We should read into this that Whitman sees Lincoln as more than merely a respected President.
Stanza Three:
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
In the third stanza, for the first time, the Speaker does not attempt to address the captain of the ship. In that lack, we see a measure of acceptance of what has occurred. He says that the people will celebrate the victory while he personally mourns the Captain who led that victory.
