preview

O Captain, My Captain And Shiloh: A Requiem

Decent Essays

Some poems are similar. Some are different. Some, however, can have aspects that are both similar and different. In the poems “O Captain, My Captain” and “Shiloh: A Requiem” many literary aspects are used. Some of these include repetition, imagery, extended metaphors, and personification. Although the poems “O Captain, My Captain” and “Shiloh: A Requiem” have very different literary elements, they have some in common as well. There are many similarities to compare in the poems “O Captain, My Captain” and “Shiloh: A Requiem”. One similarity is that both poems clearly use repetition throughout them. In the poem “O Captain, My Captain” many phrases are repeated, including, “Fallen cold and dead”, “Fearful trip”, and “bells”. This displays how Walt Whitman, the author, uses repetition to stress certain points that he wanted to make clear. He repeats these things to stress how much of a tragic and horrible event this was. Likewise, the poem “Shiloh: A Requiem” repeats the words, “Shiloh”, and “Foemen”. This …show more content…

First of all, “O Captain, My Captain” uses extended metaphors, while “Shiloh: A Requiem” does not. Walt Whitman uses many extended metaphors, such as “Captain” referring to Abraham Lincoln, and “fearful trip” meaning the Civil War. This shows how “O Captain, My Captain” uses extended metaphors to give the poem a deeper meaning than it seems. Meanwhile, Herman Melville does not use extended metaphors in his poem. Additionally, “Shiloh: A Requiem” uses personification to convey the mood, and “O Captain, My Captain” does not. For example, Herman Melville uses the phrase “The church so lone” to help convey the mood. This shows personification because loneliness is an emotion, and an inanimate object cannot feel emotions. However, “O Captain, My Captain” does not use personification in the poem. In conclusion, this shows that the two authors use unique means to get their messages

Get Access