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Linguistic Analysis

  • Anaphora

-"O Captain! My Captain!" (lines 1, 9, 17)

-"Fallen cold and dead" (lines 8, 16, 24)

  • Alliteration

-"Flag is flung" (line 10)

-"Ribbon'd wreaths" (line 11)

  • Internal Rhyme Scheme

-"near...hear" (line 3)

-"trip...ship" (line 20)

Paraphrase of Stanza 3

My Captain is silent and shows all the signs of death,

He who was like a father is oblivious to my presence and does not stir,

Our ship is safe at port with our journey behind us,

After many losses, we have accomplished the task;

The crowds may rejoice!

But I pace, full of sorrow,

Because my Captain will not share the victory.

Structure

  • Rhyme scheme: AABBCDED
  • First four lines are flowing and full of imagery. Last four are more staccatto and to the point.
  • Slight change in the syllable cadence and anaphora for the third stanza
  • Meter

Historical Significance

  • Composed in 1865
  • Most popular of Whitman's poems

Symbolism

-the end of Civil War and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln

-should be a time of rejoicing yet the country is mourning

I SIT and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame;

I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with themselves, remorseful after deeds done;

Metaphor

Outside Research

-"Captain" - Abraham Lincoln

-"ship" - United States of America

- Marie Rose Napierkowski & Mary Ruby

1. Critical Overview

2. Criticism :

Jhan Hochman

Imagery Comparison

  • "Fallen, cold, and dead"
  • the war has been won yet the nation mourns

1868

Alonzo Chappel

  • studied at the National Academy of Design, New York
  • illustrations include important events and people from the Civil War
  • mostly battle scenes and leaders

Critical Overview

Instant Classic --> Less Lauded.

Donald Hall "The Invisible World"

Robert Creeley "Introduction to Whitman Selected"

Purpose - Wider Audience, important historical moment.

Questions

  • Why is Walt Whitman not concerned with creating a metaphor for John Wilkes Booth?
  • Do you think the narrator was in denial about the death of his Captain?

Author Biography

  • 1819-1892 Long Island, New York
  • self taught
  • 1841-began working as an editor and journalist

Walt Whitman

Jhan Hochman

- Admired and loved by Whitman - Unionist

  • 1848-founded the "Brooklyn Freeman"
  • published "Leaves of Grass" in 1855
  • compelled to live a "cleansed" and "purged" life after the outbreak of the Civil War
  • dedicated Unionist and cared for wounded soldiers

- Post Mortem Effects

- Unite the Union

Presidential Acts and Proclamations

- Whitman ; Great President as the subject of poetry.

Lincoln died in the Nature of the Union

Christ had died for man.

Whitman linked his name with Lincoln; Live on forever.

Oh Captain My Captain

by Walt Whitman

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