British Literature
O Captain! My Captain!
BY WALT WHITMAN
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! heart! 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.
This is a hauntingly beautiful poem about a captain of a ship who dies at sea. The sailor is saddened when he finds his captain dead. This poem is sometimes used to compare to presidents such as Abraham Lincoln or J.F.K.
This poem is straight forward and realistic. It shows a captain fallen, and the affection that his sailors have for him in his death. The captain steered the ship until his final breath, such as with Abraham Lincoln.
The repetition of Oh Captain! My Captain is effective in showing the sailors love and heartbroken feelings over the death of his captain.
The rhyme scheme is AABBCDED with internal rhyming. The structure of the poem is also very interesting.
