II Year, III Semester English

Unit - I

 

O Captain! My Captain!

 

Walt Whitman

 

Summary:

 

O Captain! My Captain! Was written by Walt Whitman. He was a famous American Poet. The Present Poem was written in 1865 and was included in the Poetry Collection “sequel to Drum – traps”. It was considered as a well known poem of Walt Whitman. Within the poem, the Poet mourns the death of Abraham Lincoln; the Sixteenth President of the United States, who was assassinated in April 1865, just days after the end of the American Civil War, The Poem has three Stanzas. The Poet compared Abraham Lincoln with a Captain and the ship with the USA.

 

According to the Poem, the Poet addressed the captain of the ship that their fearful trip came to an end. The people of their region won the war. The Poet also stated that the port was nearer and the people also could hear the sound of the bells and the enthusiasm of them was increasing beyond their limits as the ship was nearing the port. The men in the ship threw the keel into the water to make the vessel stable. In the next statement, the poet revealed the news that the enthusiasm of the poet turned gloomy because he found his captain lying on the deck of the ship cold and dead.

 

In the second stanza, the poet talks to the captain to listen to the sound of the bells and look at the flag, which was flung for him. The people on the shore were joyful as they came to know that their war became victorious because of him and so they brought bouquets and ribboned wreaths for the captain to celebrate the occasion, the poet stated the captain as his father and kept his arm beneath the head of him upon the deck. But, the touch of the poet’s hand made him realise that the captain of the ship was cold and dead.

 

In the last stanza, the poet found the lips of the captain to be stale and still. He did not answer the call of the poet. He did not feel the poet’s hand also because there was no pulse and will in the captain then. By then, the ship was anchored safely near the port. The voyage of it was completed from the dreadful trip. The result of the fearful trip was victorious. Whereas, The people on the shore did not know about the condition of the captain. They were ringing the bells out of extreme happiness. But, the poet knew the pitiable condition on the deck of the ship. He knew it well that the captain of the ship, who made the masses enjoy their victory with his valour, is cold and dead on the deck of the ship.

 

The Present Poem “O Captain! My Captain!” describes the victory of the union after the end of the civil War and also the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It is considered as an elegiac Poem written in the commemoration on the death of the President, Abraham Lincoln. The poem has extended Metaphor. The Poem is notable for its emotional response on the death of Lincoln. The Poet focused on the expression of grief within the poem in an interesting manner.