Analysis of “O Captain! My Captain!”

It is important to understand poems such as, “O Captain! My Captain!”, by Walt Whitman because of the connections to historical events. The poem is written in first person point of view and it begins with the narrator addressing his captain by exclaiming, “O CAPTAIN! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done” (1). The mood at first, is celebratory because they have completed their journey, but it soon switches when he says, “But O heart! heart! heart” (5). At this moment, the narrator, who we’ve inferred is a crew member, realizes that his captain has, “Fallen cold and dead” (8). The mood has now become frantic and mournful. The narrator continues to speak to his captain and tell him that there are crowds on the shore, celebrating their return and victory and it is all because of him. Towards the end of the poem, he says “Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells” (21). The crowds are still celebrating, thus them not realizing the captain is dead. A thematic statement for the poem could be, when someone important is lost, their successes are still remembered. This thematic statement matches the poem because even though, the captain is dead, everything he has done will still be remembered by the crowds and by the speaker in the poem. Connotatively, Abraham Lincoln was killed but everything he has done for America is still remembered, and he is widely respected. In fact, this connection is what makes the poem so significant. The poem is literally about a captain who has died after completing a quest, but it is supposed to also represent the event of President Lincoln’s assassination. The poem also uses a few poetic devices, such as apostrophe when the narrator says “O Captain! My Captain” (1). It also contains an example of a metaphor in the verse, “It is some dream that on the deck,/ You’ve fallen cold and dead” (15-16). Repetition is also commonly found within the poem, for example the narrator repeats “for you” (10-12) to provide emphasis. There is a lot to poems such as these and when people are unaware of the connections in them, they miss out on understanding the poem in full.

“He died and he earned the respect. The crime was assassination. Booth, his dangerous days on the run. Abraham Lincoln did inspire to win battles and revive slavery. He is the hero of the story.”