Oh 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.
Thanks poetryfoundation.org for this poem!
Walt Whitman wrote this poem at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre. Whitman correlates Lincoln as a Captain and America as a ship. Lincoln led the Union army in defeating the Confederates during the Civil War, thus ending slavery everywhere on U.S. soil; hence, "...the prize we sought is won." Whitman is describing the shock and grief Americans felt when Lincoln's murder occurred. In the 8th grade, we went to Washington, D.C. and saw Ford's Theatre, which is kept the same way as when Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865. The beautiful velvet curtains still hang the same way and the balcony is furnished with American flags. It was quite breathtaking to see such an historic location. I usually don't like Whitman's style, but this one is an exception for me.
I can really tell just how much Whitman admired Lincoln and held him in the highest of esteem. When we set someone on a pedestal though, the higher they are the more damage occurs in a fall. You can also really feel how the irony of the situation is affecting now only Whitman but the country as a whole. How do you temper the ecstatic feeling of slavery being no more and the Union preserved with the sting of losing the ship's Captain? Add to that the fear that must have been swirling around. What direction does the trip travel when the Captain is gone? Not only is he eulogizing Lincoln, he's also expressing the mixed feelings of joy, sorrow and fear.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, K.A. Tent Medic L-12. It is quite a fall when we revere someone in almost a god status. Lincoln was barely into his second term when he was assassinated. He started his term in March of 1865 and was murdered about a month later. Interesting enough, too, is that the Civil War began within a month of his first term. So Lincoln had quite a bit to deal with. He was quite a novice at running a country, even though he was an experienced senator. Even though we all disagree about politics, I don't think any decent person wants to see their president murdered. I would imagine it was the same way we all felt on 9/11 and our grandparents felt about Pearl Harbor.
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