This is emphasized by the happy scenes that begin each stanza: ringing bells, “bouquets,” “wreaths,” and cheering crowds. One of the poem’s painful ironies is that the triumph is meant to honor the leader who won it, but President Lincoln is not present to witness it. Before facing loss, the poem barely has time to celebrate the triumph. However, halfway through this triumphant first stanza, the speaker interrupts, saying, “But O heart! heart! heart!” “… my Captain lies, dead and cold.” The abrupt appearance of a qualification-”But, O heart!”-informs the reader that all is not well. storm, and declares that “the prize we sought has been won.” The speaker commends President Lincoln for steering the metaphorical ship of state through “every wrack,” i.e. “O Captain! My Captain!” uses poetic form to model the close relationship between triumph and pain by juxtaposing the language of loss and victory.Īt first glance, it appears that this will be a poem commemorating the Union’s Civil War victory. In this sense, Whitman’s poem illuminates the lingering pain and trauma of wartime losses, as well as the impossibility of ever separating victory’s triumph from its human costs. Its festivities, on the other hand, are overshadowed by melancholy. On the one hand, its mourning is offset by joyful reminders that the war has been won. Victory and loss are thus inextricably linked throughout the poem. The poem “O Captain! My Captain!” is both a celebration of the end of the American Civil War and an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln. Here is the central theme of “O Captain! My Captain!” Theme Victory and Loss The poem is perhaps Whitman’s most famous, which is ironic given how conventional it is in meter, form, and subject matter compared to much of Whitman’s other work.Īlthough some critics claim Whitman regretted ever writing “O Captain! My Captain!” it undeniably captured the mood of a nation in mourning and remains one of Whitman’s best-loved and most-quoted poems. It was first published in Whitman’s collection of poems inspired by the events of the American Civil War, Sequel to Drum-Taps (1865). “O Captain! My Captain!” is a Walt Whitman elegy written in 1865 to commemorate President Abraham Lincoln’s death. The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,įrom fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills,įor you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding,įor you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
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