Famous American Poems

Walt Whitman's O' Captain! My Captain!

Walt Whitman 
source- Pinterest

                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.

Analysis

Born in 1819, Walt Whitman was an American poet and writer renowned for his poetic works based on the ideas of realism and transcendentalism. Often labelled as the father of free verse, Whitman’s poetry is prose-like and makes use of symbols and images. Walt Whitman was deeply affected by the American civil war of 1861, and this influence is clearly visible in his poems. He expresses his emotions through rich and subtle language in his poems.

 ‘O Captain! My Captain’ is one of the most famous American patriotic poems by Whitman. The poem is an elegy to the then American president, Abraham Lincoln who was assassinated in 1865. The poem has a sad rhetoric and is full of sorrows. It is rhymed and follows regular meter. The poem recalls a journey which has been undertaken by young and brave men to save America. The poem uses the metaphor of a ship where the journey is a naval warfare involving a ship which is being led by Abraham Lincoln. 

The theme of victory and loss resonates throughout the poem. Whitman feels that all of their hard work against the confederate states has been futile as his beloved president is no more.

 Through the means of a dream which Whitman imagines, he perceives a ship coming to the harbour one night before Lincoln’s assassination. Lincoln is the captain of the ship who has brought it safely across the sea to the American shore after having a tough war with the Confederate states of America.

 The idea of ship coming to the harbour is symbolic to America itself which has been saved by Lincoln. As already mentioned, the American Civil war was very close to Whitman’s heart. With Lincoln abolishing slavery and the war drawing towards the end, Whitman feels that America has been saved from the sin of slavery. The “prize sought” in the poem refers to the abolishment of the slavery, emphasising on the fact that their objective of the war has been achieved and they’re closer to victory. 

All this has happened because of Lincoln, who has led this ship through obstacles of high waves of sea. In the next part of the poem, Whitman is mourning the loss of his captain who has been bled to death. Abraham Lincoln was murdered only five days before the confederate states surrendered. 

That’s why Whitman mentions that he was close to victory. Whitman is urging Lincoln to wake up as the whole America is waiting on the shore to venerate him with garlands, flowers, wreaths and the American flag. He wants the dead man to taste the victory. Whitman had thought Lincoln to be the greatest leader of the century, and referred to him as a father figure. “The voyage is closed and done”, the war has been finished and America is safe now. What they sought has been achieved but its useless as the captain is dead. The victory bells are tolling, but Whitman is mourning. The American land is experiencing some divine peace after so long but Lincoln isn’t alive. 

 Walt Whitman who is also known as the national poet of America, invokes a patriotic tone in the poem. There is a close relation between victory and pain. The poem starts with a sense of relief, that the ship is saved but ends on a sad note, summarising the legacy of the greatest American president, Abraham Lincoln