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O Captain! My Captain

Walt Whitman's poem 'O Captain! My Captain!' was written in response to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and expresses deep grief over his death. The poem uses the metaphor of a ship's captain to symbolize Lincoln, highlighting themes of victory and loss, grief, and the connection between the individual and the nation. As an elegy, it captures the emotional turmoil surrounding Lincoln's assassination and remains one of Whitman's most popular works.

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Padmini Nayak
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83 views1 page

O Captain! My Captain

Walt Whitman's poem 'O Captain! My Captain!' was written in response to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and expresses deep grief over his death. The poem uses the metaphor of a ship's captain to symbolize Lincoln, highlighting themes of victory and loss, grief, and the connection between the individual and the nation. As an elegy, it captures the emotional turmoil surrounding Lincoln's assassination and remains one of Whitman's most popular works.

Uploaded by

Padmini Nayak
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Background of the Poem

Walt Whitman's poem ''O Captain! My Captain!'' is one of the poet's most famous works. It
was written shortly after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865,
and the end of the U.S. Civil War. It became immediately popular and has remained one of
Whitman's most widely reproduced poems. The poem is notable for its emotional response
to the death of Lincoln and because it represents a departure from Whitman's typical style.
"O Captain! My Captain!" became perhaps the most popular of them because it utilizes a
memorable, popular style and easily understandable imagery.

What is the main theme of the poem "O Captain! My Captain!"?


Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!" focuses on the expression of grief. The poetic speaker
tells of a ship's captain who has died and the pain of that loss. Whitman wrote the poem in
response to the assassination and death of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
 Victory and loss
 Grief and Isolation
 Individual vs the nation

What does "O Captain! My Captain!" symbolize?


Walt Whitman's poem "O Captain! My Captain!" uses the metaphor of a ship's captain who
has died to represent the death of President Abraham Lincoln at the end of the U.S. Civil
War. Mourning the death of the captain is a way of expressing grief over the traumatic loss
of the president.
Elegy
''O Captain! My Captain!'' is an elegy, a poem that mourns the dead or takes up a similarly
serious theme. The poem can also be described as a dirge, a song for the dead. The poem
discusses the death of a ship's ''Captain.'' The poetic speaker is distraught at the death of
the captain. Readers can identify with the powerful sense of mourning and loss in a general
way. Whitman wrote ''O Captain! My Captain!'' in response to President Abraham Lincoln's
death. Thus, the poem as a whole can be seen as a symbolic response to the passing of the
President.

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