Analysis Of The Poem ' The Captain My Captain ' By Walt Whitman

In the midst of an era characterized by strict adherence to religious and societal expectations, a vibrant wave of liberated thought and conscious non-conformism manages to emerge. This counter-culture approach to answering life’s basic questions becomes what is known as the philosophy of transcendentalism. Addressing the primary focus of transcendentalism - the search for self-wisdom, discovery and betterment – is the ground-breaking poet, Walt Whitman. In his poetry, Whitman explores the surreal and cosmic, relating the supernatural to the mundane .With an emphasis on oneness with nature, Whitman’s celebratory attitude of the human soul in all of its complexity, beauty, and contradictions is most noted in his extensive poem titled “Song of Myself”, and is developed further in his poem “Kosmos”. Moreover, Whitman pioneers the future of modern poetry while incorporating his perspective of what it means to be human.

Before jumping into the poem, looking at the title and author of this poem serves a greater purpose than not. Walt Whitman, born in 1819, was born into a very proud American family. Whitman’s family loved America so much that his three brothers were named after presidents of the United States. After President Lincoln was assassinated, Whitman published “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, about the assassination (“Walt Whitman”). Though it may or may not be evident while reading, “O Captain! My Captain!” parallels to Whitman’s earlier poem, on the subject of his sorrow towards Lincoln’s death. In “O Captain! My Captain!” not a single name is stated, but by having the knowledge of Whitman’s personal life, it is safe to

Whitman’s point throughout the story is that in war there is more suffering than there is glory or bravery. This can be seen in the first section of this poem:

Captain Lincoln Steers the Ship to victory. “Where on the deck my captain lies Fallen cold and dead.”(7-8) This quote from the story refers to the assassination of President Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was President during the Civil War, and is considered to be one of the greatest presidents of all time. President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14,1865 and was in a coma for 9 hours before he died. With the death of the President the nation lost it’s most important man and a great father and husband. The elegy “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman is an extended metaphor about President Lincoln’s presidency because it compares Lincoln to a ships captain, the Union

Source One is about the journey of Lincoln in the Civil War and he’s trying to save America. In Source One it says “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.” In this poem Abraham Lincoln is the captain who is fighting through his trip, which is personified as the Civil War. The ship is the United States fighting through the brutal and dangerous war. Lincoln was the figure that most people followed, while some people hated him for giving rights to colored people. Even though he was said horrible things and the country divided for the freedom of slaves Lincoln still fought for what he thought was right. After Lincoln’s death and accomplishment of freeing slaves he didn’t get to see the happiness and and the honor he deserved. Furthermore, after the fearful trip was done, Lincoln was able to write the Emancipation Proclamation which gave everyone

Stanza 1-Speaker of poem in the woods. The wood is sunny, bright, it is Fall. He comes to a fork in the road. He’s trying to choose one road. He can only take one. He looks down one path and he can see pretty far but he doesn’t see where it will take him.

It is not news for anyone to hear that Lincoln changed America, but Whitman explains it a little differently. Looking closer at “Oh Captain! My Captain!” elements of American Romanticism pop out, and one of those major elements is political changes or events. The Event of this is very well known, Lincoln’s assassination. New york Times tells that Whitman was pushed to write this poem after Lincoln’s assassination as a tribute to him. “Generations of historians have described, and tried to interpret the meaning of, this unique funeral procession. But no author has probed the event more deeply than Walt Whitman”. (Griffin, New York Times). This can be shown through the detail of the poem to his assassination. It describes the captain falling cold and dead, which can be a direct correlation to him being shot. His assassination isn't the only thing discussed in this poem. Going back to the metaphors about the voyage, the voyage is described as done. This can show that the civil war was over recently, it ended on April 9th. Lincoln’s assassination took place on April 14th. The close relations of both of these events happening are described like a history lesson through the poem. The second stanza is describing the vents after the war, and the third is describing Lincoln's death. After the war ended the country was in a state of happiness and celebration, but Lincoln was assassinated only a few days later.

Also included in the poem is the image of a young child being embraced by their elders. This shows the gap in life and the aging process that we go through. When we are young we are carefree, but as we age we hold on to the ones we love because of the knowledge that we will one day have to make our departure. Out of this idea of death, Whitman shows that this is a natural part of life and

Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is a vision of the American spirit, a vision of Whitman himself. It is his cry for democracy, giving each of us a voice through his poetry. Each of us has a voice and desires, and this is Whitman's representation of our voices, the voice of America. America, the great melting pot, was founded for freedom and democracy, and this poem is his way of re-instilling these lost American ideals. In this passage from "Song of Myself" Whitman speaks through his fellow man and speaks for his fellow man when his voice is not socially acceptable to be heard.

The first half of the poem Whitman

“O Captain! My Captain!” is one of the most popular poems ever written by Walt Whitman. Upon the initial reading of this poem, one may perceive the poem to be about a loyal captain who leads his crew on a treacherous, but successful, voyage which ends in devastation. If interpreted literally this is the poem’s only meaning, but for those who look further there is an underlying story behind the words of Whitman. Whitman uses multiple literary elements throughout this poem in order to unmask the story of Abraham Lincoln’s journey and ultimate death as a result of the Civil War and his fight to end slavery.

It was a deep poem, because it opened up his perspective on life, and his perspective is unique. In a way he spoke of his own religion, and preached that everyone meets their maker, but everyone is reincarnated as a blade of grass, and he spoke of showing respect for the blades of grass because they could have been part of his ancestory or a person of importance to another person. In general, he wanted people to show appreciation for the world because many generations walked this planet before he did. He wanted people to respect those who have since been deceased, no matter their race, because death is inevitable, and they will soon face it. Whitman’s writing style carried over into this canto, his blank verse style of poetry, although it was not flashy, it made him sound educated and well spoken, but hard to follow. He also revealed that he did believe in a god when he spoke of God’s handkerchief was a gift for Earth, through a

Song of Myself by Walt Whitman. In this poem, the speaker Walt Whitman talks about his connection to nature and how everything is connected to nature. He speaks as if what he says is a new or unheard language. Mr. Whitman believe that he is not tamed from himself and that he has transcended the notion. By that he means he have created a new language that is foreign to others since they have never heard of it. Around this time many poets were becoming more expressive and open. Walt Whitman motivated many artists that would have been considered “weird” during the time to become more open.

Dedicating countless hours to the war and politics before President Lincoln’s death, Whitman strained to restore the Union as a whole. Feeling obligated to participate in the war effort, Whitman secured a government position making “regular visit[s] [to] soldiers in war hospitals”(Constantkis). Whitman also participated in the Free Soil Party, a rising opposition to the progression and spread of slavery, and wrote political commentaries in his effort to strengthen the Union. These undertakings not only aided the Union, but also brought Whitman closer to his idol, Lincoln, who also wanted to preserve the Union. Devastated by the assassination of President Lincoln, Walt Whitman wrote “O Captain! My Captain!,” “This Dust Was Once the Man,” and

In Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”, the poet showcases his feelings of people and himself by using literary descriptors to convey his thoughts on these and various other subjects. In section 20, Whitman’s purpose is to showcase self-assuredness regardless of what the world tries to state otherwise by maintaining his resolute happiness in being himself. This is what sets him apart from being like the other people in the world.