O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN By Walt Whitman Analysis

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! By Walt Whitman Analysis by Sarah Bachleda Danielle Lumetta Max Cretcher

A reading by Walt Whitman Video

Reading

Paraphrase 1 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! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. “Captain” refers to President Lincoln, so in this stanza Whitman is saying that Lincoln has steered the United States through the Civil War and has led it to victory. While everyone is celebrating the grand victory, the speaker realizes the captain is missing and finds him dead.

2 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. In this stanza Whitman is saying that the captain has to get up and join the celebration because he is the main cause of the celebration as he was the one to lead the “ship, ” or the country, to victory. His people want to celebrate and rejoice with him. As in the stages of grief, the speaker is refusing to believe the death of his captain when he says, “It is some dream that on the

3 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. The speaker is accepting the fact that his “Captain” is dead. He is reinforcing the fact that the ship is finally safe yet the person who led them to victory is dead. While everyone else is celebrating the victory, the speaker is mourning the death of his beloved Captain.

Theme War Loyalty Death Journey Defeat vs. Victory

Subject & Lyric An elegy to Abraham Lincoln A person mourning the death of their leader or captain Not a lyrical poem – everyday speech

Words & Suggestion

DICTION Simple and uncomplicated word choice Words may stand for something more, but the words themselves are basic Specific word choice allows the reader to know how the speaker feels “fearful trip” (20) “Vessel grim and daring” (4)

Word Order The word order in the poem mostly fits the common “subject-verb-object” word order. The fourth line in each stanza has a different order of words Example: Line 12 - “For you they call” instead of “they call for you”

Denotation / Connotation Father Denotation – A male parent Connotation – A leading figure Prize Denotation – Something won in a contest or competition Connotation – The reward from defending their beliefs

Levels of Usage Written in informal English - not a lot of long complicated words Old English style emphasize the setting and time

Symbolism & Allusion The “Captain” is an allusion of Abe Lincoln The “ship” symbolizes the United States The “trip” and “voyage” symbolize the Civil War and the “port” symbolizes the victory in the war.

Sound Not intentional devices: Euphony, Cacophony, and Onomatopoeia

Sound Devices Alliteration: Line 10 - “flag” “flung” Line 19 - “safe” “sound” Consonance: Line 8, 16, 24 - “cold” “dead” Line 10 - “flag” “flung” Line 15 - “dream” “deck” Assonance: Line 20 - “ship” “trip” Lines 1, 5, 6, 9, and 21 Repetition of the “O” creating a repeated “oh” sound.

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! 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. P O E M T E X T

Rhyme End/Internal Rhyme Consistent end rhyme following the rhyme pattern Two instances of internal rhyme, line 3 and line 20 Exact/Slant Rhyme & Type Combination of exact and slant rhyme All rhyming the poem is masculine

Rhyme Scheme In all three stanzas, the rhyme scheme follows the same AABBCDE D pattern. Here is an example… O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done A The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won, A The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; B B C But O heart! D O the bleeding drops of red, E Where on the deck my Captain lies, D Fallen cold and dead.

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! 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 acrowding; 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, P O E M T E X T

Imagery

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! 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. Types of Imagery P O E M T E X T

VOICE Tone & Persona

Tone • Mournful • Gloomy Evidence: “O the bleeding drops of red, ” (6) “Fallen cold and dead. ” (8)

Persona 1 st person point of view Uses words “I” and “My” “My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still; ” (17).

Rhythm

Scansion and Meter Scansion: Mainly iambic, there are some inconstancies where there is no patterned meter (lines 5 and 13). Meter: The first four lines of the first and second stanza have the same feet and pattern. Lines 1 and 9 have an irregular pattern, lines 2 and 10 are iambic heptameter (as well as lines 18 -20), and lines 3, 4, 11, and 12 are iambic octameters.

Stanzas one and two U / U / O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; U / U / The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won; U / U / U The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, U / U / U While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring: U / U / O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; U / U / Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills; U / U / U For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding; U / U / U For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

But O heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! Where on the deck my Captain lies, But I, with mournful tread, Fallen cold and dead Here Captain! dear father! Walk the deck my Captain lies, This arm beneath your head; It is some dream that on the deck, You’ve fallen cold and dead. Fallen cold and dead. Irregular Meter

End Stop & Caesura End Stop Every line in the poem is an end stop Some form of punctuation at end of each line One stanza (without the exclamations) is one sentence. Caesura This poem is filled with caesura Almost every line has a punctuation break, making the poem sound more dramatic when read. Allows reader to imagine the scene the author is describing.

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! 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. P O E M T E X T

FORM C L O S E D This poem has regular patterns of rhyme and rhythm, making it an example of closed, structural form. Stanza: The structure of the stanzas are “double” quatrain. There are eight lines per stanza, but the first four and last four lines are grouped together and follow different metric patterns. SIGNIFICANT

Figures of Speech

Metaphor & Personification Metaphor Lincoln = Captain United States = Ship War = Fearful Trip Personification “Exult, O shores” – line 21 “the vessel grim and daring” – line 4

Overstatement, Metonymy, & P Synecdoche 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! 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. O E M T E X T