O Captain My Captain Summary

In “Song of Myself” Whitman attempts to speak on behalf of the entire American population. He tries to pull the reader into a world of many possibilities. Whitman makes a

In the middle of the poem, the speaker arrives at the number of casualties from the war. When he reads this number he can’t believe that he is still alive. As he reads down the names he uses the visual imagery and simile to describe how he expected to find his own name in “letters like smoke” (line 16). This helps the reader understand how lucky the speaker felt about somehow escaping the war still alive. As he goes

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

Walt Whitman, a democratic poet, celebrated himself and his connection with the world by writing “Song of Myself” in 1855. According to Eric Forsythe, “Throughout the poem, Whitman probes the question of how large the new democratic self can become before it dissipates into contradiction and fragmentation, and each time he seems to reach the limit, he dilates even more” (Forsythe). The poem shaped the idea of what it meant to be an American, by bringing citizens together. It also foreshadowed the Civil War, which began in 1861, through a symbol of grass. In “Song of Myself,” Whitman’s themes of individualism and carpe diem developed from the transcendentalist movement.

Walt Whitman believed everyone was equal and was a big fan of Abraham Lincoln. After Lincoln’s assassination Whitman wrote many poems to describe the travel of Lincoln’s body back to Springfield including “Drum Taps”. According to Martin Griffin of the New York Times “Oh Captain! My Captain” was the only short poem about Lincoln to become well known. Although Whitman never directly met Lincoln, he had seen

“O Captain! my Captain! Our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won.” Walt Whitman, an American essayist, poet, and journalist, illustrates Abraham Lincoln’s accomplishment of saving the Union, and he captures the variety of emotions that it provoked. Still, Lincoln is remembered as a legend, and his political endeavors are highly emphasized in American history. Although the vast majority of people agree that Lincoln was, indeed, a heroic man, some question the importance of his undertakings. Lincoln’s actions, such as continuing with the presidential election, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, and delivering the Gettysburg Address, are what make him a legend.

Whitman wrote broad stanzas and focused on the whole of America as his inspiration. His lines covered a wide range of topics and generated multiple points of view for the reader. He called his life’s work “Leaves of Grass”; stressing the

Even though the southerners are technically his enemy, he still loves them tenderly as he would his own kin. His family has been killed at the hands of his family. There were many pale-faced men as this who were unfortunate victims of civil warfare. This is a terrible tragedy, and Whitman challenges this by asking what happens after these "hard-fought engagements or sieges tremendous? What deepest remains" (The Wound-Dresser, l 12)? The answer, only those who survive to tell the tale remain. Is it really something to celebrate after massacring your fellow countrymen? One might point out the heroics and bravery exhibited in the war, men have been made stronger and is just a growing experience for the country, but "was one side so brave? The other was equally brave" (The Wound-Dresser, l 8). The heroics and bravery are without direction in this war. If you commit a great act of sacrifice, then the results only hurt those whom you share land with, your countrymen, your brethren. Whitman grieves for these people, "for my enemy is dead. A man as divine as myself is dead" (Reconciliation, l 4). There is no purpose to this feud; it has extinguished a man, who is an equal, from this world. By speaking of his enemies as his equals and as divine as himself, he captures their humanity and in effect how inhumane it is to destroy them utterly. Through this portrayal of parity in the humanness of those who endure torture, Whitman thrusts out that the war ultimately

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.

In his essay “Death of Abraham Lincoln”, Walt Whitman recalls the first time he ever saw the future president elect when Lincoln silently passed through New York City on his way to Washington D. C. Then Whitman remarks on the rapid succession of the well-known, recent, and still yet painful events of the Civil War. The strata of session sympathizers, the assassination of Lincoln at Ford’s theatre by John Wilkes Booth five days after the end of the Civil War, and the effect Lincoln’s death will forever have on our nation. Walt Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist-in addition to publishing his poetry- was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. The Civil war lasted from 1861 to 1865 and was the result of four

America experienced profound changes during the mid 1800’s. New technologies and ideas helped the nation grow, while the Civil War ripped the nation apart. During this tumultuous period, two great American writers captured their ideas in poetry. Their poems give us insight into the time period, as well as universal insight about life. Although polar opposites in personality, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman created similar poetry. Dickinson’s “Hope is a Thing with Feathers” and Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!” share many qualities.

“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.

Walt Whitman, a civil war nurse was a self-taught poet in the 1800s. Whitman is known for using lists, anaphora, free verse, and other literary devices in his poems. In his works, he focuses on American workers, diversity, transcendent approaches to nature, and individualism. “Song of Myself,” a poem written by Whitman, explores themes of nature, sex, democracy, and spirituality. Whitman uses nature to fuel his creativity in using grass as a symbol of comparison to life by using imagery, metaphors, and analogies.

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