Analysis of The Poem O Captain! My Captain

Walt Whitman wrote “Oh Captain! My Captain!” to honour Abraham Lincoln after the President was assassinated in April 14, 1865. Lincoln’s death inspired Whitman to write one of his most memorable works — a simple, three-stanza poem of sorrow that bore little resemblance to his other, more experimental writings. ‘O Captain! My Captain!.” A poem by Walt Whitman about a captain who dies just as his ship has reached the end of a stormy and dangerous voyage. The captain represents Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated just as the Civil War was ending.

What drew me to the poem was the poetic device rhyme, seeing how simple but meaningful the poem is. For me to realise that such a man as himself would right a one day to be remembered poem about Abraham Lincoln. It’s touching how they barely knew each other but how much Abraham Lincoln meant to what Walt Whitman to referee to him as a father figure.

I had only realised after studying and doing more research on the poem and its true meaning what it actually meant, I do now realise what the poem is about. My original thought was that this poem was created in the 18th century before Abraham Lincoln was born. The reasoning behind my idea was that it talked about a boat and people cheering them and giving them appraisal seems to me assuming they were out and discovered a lot of mysteries and had a successful voyage on there ship. How ever when in the poem and how the writer is talking first person takes me to assume this was also a message about someone he very much cared and loved for.

Poetic devices have a major roll in the poem. Repetition is a common poetic device used throughout the poem, an example I Oh Captain! My Captain! This shows that Walt Whitman thinks of Abraham Lincoln is a Captain and that he’s worth talking about in every stanza in his poem.

This three stanza poem story line is about Abraham Lincoln who is a farther like figure for Walt Whitman, this is shown in the second stanza when he says Here captain! Dear farther, Walt Whitman could see him as a father figure and a Captain who didn’t deserve his death and who deserved to be celebrated for. There are verses that show that he’s dead and also a poetic device that shows his death is repetition. An example of a verse that shows Abraham Lincoln death is “O bleeding drops of read” when this is said it could mean anything, Walt Whitman is directing the verse at the Captain who is Walt Whitman.

Works Cited

1. Whitman, W. (1865). O Captain! My Captain! In Leaves of Grass (pp. 206-207). Thayer & Eldridge.
2. Kaplan, J. (2003). Walt Whitman: A Life. Harper Perennial.
3. Miller, J. E. (2003). Walt Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!" as an Elegy for Abraham Lincoln. Journal of American Culture, 26(3), 387-394.
4. Reynolds, D. S. (1995). Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography. Vintage.
5. Loving, J. (1999). Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself. University of California Press.
6. Burroughs, J. (1900). Whitman: A Study. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
7. Kaplan, J. (2000). Lincoln in American Memory. University of Chicago Press.
8. Krimmel, W. (1971). The Old Public Functionary as Natural Aristocrat: The Captain in Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!" American Literature, 43(2), 225-238.
9. Callow, P. (1992). Walt Whitman: The Poet and His Critics. Paragon House.
10. Loving, J. (1996). Walt Whitman: Song of Himself. University of California Press.