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oh captain my captain summary

by Thora Hand IV Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago

In Short

  • Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! ...
  • The speaker, a sailor, reports to his captain that the ship has completed its journey. ...
  • But suddenly the speaker exclaims that the captain has fallen on the deck, ‘cold and dead’.
  • The speaker pleads the captain to rise up as people erupt in joy and wait to have a look at their captain.
  • But the captain does not move. ...

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.Sep 14, 2021

Full Answer

What is the main idea in Oh Captain my Captain?

My Captain!”

  • Metaphor: There are three extended metaphors in the poem. ...
  • Personification: Whitman has used personification to give human qualities to lifeless objects. ...
  • Imagery: Imagery appeals to the five senses of the readers. ...
  • Apostrophe: An apostrophe is a device used to call somebody or something from afar. ...

More items...

What is the message in O Captain Your Captain?

My Captain!”

  • Lines 1-4 O Captain! my Captain! ...
  • Line 6 O the bleeding drops of red, Unlock all 274 words of this analysis of Line 6 of “O Captain! ...
  • Lines 9-12 O Captain! ...
  • Lines 13-18 Here Captain! ...
  • Lines 19-24 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 ...

Why do people say Oh Captain my Captain?

Captain Lee has been a mentor to many during his time on Below Deck. Chef Rachel certainly tested the captain with her “eat my cooter ... And then people were like, ‘Oh yeah, she doesn ...

Where does the phrase Oh Captain my Captain come from?

“O Captain! My Captain!” is an elegy written by Walt Whitman in 1865 to commemorate the death of President Abraham Lincoln. It was first published in Sequel to Drum-Taps (1865), a collection of Whitman’s poems inspired by the events of the American Civil War.

What is the message of O Captain My Captain?

Victory and Loss. Even as the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” celebrates the end of the American Civil War, it is also an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln. Victory and loss are thus closely intertwined throughout the poem.

What does O Captain My Captain mean in dead Poets Society?

Originally written by Walt Whitman, “O Captain! My Captain!” is a melancholic ballad devoted to a captain (President Abraham Lincoln) who dies heroically shortly before his ship reaches her destination, having withstood a turbulent voyage (a metaphor for the end of the American Civil War).

What is the central idea of the poem O Captain My Captain quizlet?

What is the central idea of this poem? A victory has been achieved but the leader was lost in the process.

What is the main reason that O Captain My Captain is considered an elegy?

My Captain!" after Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865. The poem is classified as an elegy or mourning poem, and was written to honor Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States.

How does O Captain My Captain represent American culture?

Most of his poetry reflects on that and is representative of American ideals and culture. He wrote “O Captain My Captain” as an a kind of mourning poem, also called elegy, in order to honor Abraham Lincoln. In the poem, the speaker is shouting out to his captain that they have finally made it back after a scary trip.

What is the central idea of this poem?

The poem's central theme is contained in the subject matter of the poem. In other words, it is the abstract idea of what the poem is saying about life. A poem may convey different levels of meaning, simultaneously.

What is the tone of this poem?

The tone of a poem is the attitude you feel in it — the writer's attitude toward the subject or audience. The tone in a poem of praise is approval.

How does the speaker feel about the captain?

The speaker is the captain's son-in-law. Q. How does the speaker feel about the captain? Speaker is jealous of the captain.

What does the speaker say about the dead body of the Captain?

In the second stanza, the speaker implores the Captain to "rise up and hear the bells," wishing the dead man could witness the elation.

What is the poem "The Ship Has Reached Its Home Port" about?

In the first stanza, the speaker expresses his relief that the ship has reached its home port at last and describes hearing people cheering.

Stanza 1

The first stanza depicts the celebratory mood of the speaker or the sailor as the ship has completed its tedious and long journey. It has braved the storms at sea, sailed through harsh and difficult circumstances and is now successfully approaching the port. The scene is exuberant and full of joy.

Stanza 2

The speaker is grief-stricken as he sees the Captain lying cold and dead on the deck. His senses do not allow him to believe and accept the awful situation. He emphatically tells the Captain, although dead, to get up and hear the bells. He says that the bugle is being blown to honour his tiresome journey.

Stanza 3

The speaker in this stanza realizes that the Captain is not responding to his pleas to get up and see the jubilant people waiting for them at the shore. His attempts to wake the Captain up are now futile. He declares that the Captain’s lips are pale and motionless, and he is now inanimate since he cannot feel the speaker’s arm beneath his head.

In Short

Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!” is an extended metaphor mourning the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865 at the close of the American Civil War.

O Captain! My Captain! Explanation

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,

O Captain! My Captain! – Into Details

Walt Whitman is regarded as one of America’s most significant 19 th century poets. He wrote the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” in 1865 after the death of Abraham Lincoln, the former American President. The poem is the poet’s tribute to Abraham Lincoln for his role in the American Civil War.

O Captain! My Captain! – Themes

As you already know, Whitman’s poem “O Captain! My Captain!” is an elegy, mourning the death of President Abraham Lincoln at the end of the American Civil War. Through this poem the poet pays a homage to his admired leader and it gives an expression to the nation’s collective grief after the President’s death.

O Captain! My Captain! – Symbols

The poem “O Captain! My Captain!” is an extended metaphor where the ship is the United States itself. Abraham Lincoln guided the nation’s ship as a captain through many storms in the Civil War. But the captain died when the ship returned home safely after accomplishing its mission, i.e., when the war ended and the Union emerged victorious.

O Captain! My Captain! – Literary Devices

An end-stopped line is a line of verse that ends with a punctuation. All 24 lines in this poem are end-stopped lines.

Why did Whitman write "O Captain My Captain"?

Whitman composed “O Captain! My Captain!” to commemorate Abraham Lincoln in the wake of his assassination in 1865, just five days after the end of the American Civil War. The three-stanza poem employs a layered conce it which represents Abraham Lincoln as the eponymous “Captain” of a ship returning to port. The ship represents the Union's cause, and ...

What does the speaker say in the first stanza of the poem?

In the first stanza, the speaker, a sailor, salutes his captain. He reports that their voyage is successful and nearly complete and that “the prize we sought is won.” As the ship approaches port, the speaker describes the bells tolling and the celebratory crowds gathering. But in a sudden shift, the speaker exclaims that his captain has fallen on the deck “cold and dead.”

Background

Lincoln's presidency (1861-1865) coincided with one of the most divisive times in American history. The country entered into the Civil War, encountered years of bloody fighting, saw the end of slavery in the nation, and ended the war with a lingering bitterness.

Setting and Symbolism

''O Captain! My Captain!'' utilizes a series of symbols related to sailing. There is the Captain, who is a reference to Lincoln. There are also references to the ''keel'' and ''deck,'' parts of the ship which has returned to ''port.'' The ship has ''weather'd'' a difficult voyage, a symbol for the bloody Civil War.

Themes

Loss, grief, and victory are central themes in ''O Captain! My Captain.''

What does "o Captain my captain" mean?

Here, the “ship” is a symbol of the civil war fought for liberating the slaves. According to the poet, the ship is sailing nearer to the shore, meaning the war is about to end.

Who wrote "My Captain"?

My Captain!’ was authored by famous American poet Walt Whitman. It alluded to President Abraham Lincoln’s death in 1865. The poem was a part of his controversially famous collection of poems “Leaves of Grass”. The poetic collection continuously was revised to add new poetic pieces from Walt Whitman as a result.

What themes does Whitman use in his poem?

He may use inanimate objects for that end. Apart from that, Whitman uses the themes of victory, lamentation, grief, sadness, and loss in his poem, ‘O Captain! My Captain!’. Though this poem concerns the theme of victory, it contains a sad note on the death of Lincoln.

What is the focal point of the poem at hand?

The speaker ’s coming to terms with the death of his fallen comrade is the focal point of the poem at hand. At the start of the poem, the speaker attempts to come to reality as he observes his dead captain on the deck. Slowly and gradually, he realizes that the change is permanent and life must go, regardless.

When did Omer join the Poem Analysis team?

Omer joined the Poem Analysis team back in November 2015. He has a keen eye for poetry and enjoys analysing them, providing his intereptation of poems from the past and present.

What is the mood of the poem after Lincoln's death?

After his death, the nation is fatherless. In this agony, the poet writes the verses. However, the mood of the poem is not gloomy. Even if they have lost Lincoln, the dream Lincoln has seen is not lost.

Who is the captain in the poem?

On a figurative level, the opening lines introduce the metaphorical comparisons in the poem: The Captain is Abraham Lincoln.

What does the last use of "my captain" mean?

This tragedy will overshadow the greater victory. The last use of "my" Captain shows the speaker forgoing the celebration to continue mourning. He's not ready to live on his own, even though soon, he will have to.

Why does the speaker implores his Captain to get up?

The speaker implores his Captain to get up because everything's for him. The bells, the music, the flowers, the wreaths and the flag are all for him. The gathered crowd is there to celebrate the Captain, and they can't wait to see him. The speaker shows denial by asking someone he knows is dead to "rise up".

What does the crewman call his father?

The crewman now refers to his Captain as "dear father", showing he viewed him as much more than a commanding officer. His denial continues as he says the Captain's death must be a dream. As a metaphor, Lincoln is being called a "father"—he was more than a leader as well, as America looked to him as a father-figure.

When was My Captain by Walt Whitman published?

My Captain!". by Walt Whitman was published in November 1865, about seven months after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. This is significant, as we'll get into later. It was an immediate success with the public, and many students had to memorize it. Contributing to this is the poem's basic structure—couplets with a standard meter and end-rhymes.

Did the speaker say "my father" or "my captain"?

The fact remains that the Civil War was successfully fought. Again, the speaker says "my" Captain and adds "my" father. There's no doubt the speaker has lost much more than a commanding officer. The Captain has seen him through a difficult trip; his judgment has saved the speaker and the rest of the crew.

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