O Captain! My Captain!

“O Captain! My Captain!” (1865) is an elegy in the form of an extended metaphor. Written by Walt Whitman (1819-92), the poem mourns Abraham Lincoln’s death at the end of the American Civil War. One of four poems Whitman wrote about Lincoln’s death, “O Captain!” uses the metaphor of a ship and its captain to both celebrate the end of the Civil War and to lament the loss of America’s leader: Lincoln.

The poem is unique amongst the body of Whitman’s work. Most of Whitman’s poetry is free verse, unrhymed poetry of personal expression, but “O Captain!” is written in a much more traditional form with a set rhythm, meter, and rhyme scheme. The poem also utilizes set stanza patterns and embraces a classic metaphor. This contrasts with Whitman’s other poetry that most critics view as being original for its rejection of tradition in a time where traditional poetry was highly valued.

Ultimately, “O Captain!” contains an equal mixture of grief and celebration. As the country celebrated the conclusion of the war, it also grieved its fallen leader. The poem played a key role in adding to the mythology and martyrdom of Lincoln, who, in death, became an almost religious figure for many Americans at the time and to this day. The poem is considered part of the transcendentalist movement.

Poet Biography

Born in 1819 in Long Island, Walt Whitman grew up in New York. Throughout his childhood, his family faced continual financial hardship, resulting in a rather unpleasant upbringing.

Whitman finished school at the age of 11 and began working a series of jobs—mostly in publishing. During his teenage years working at various newspapers, Whitman began publishing his first poems, though he anonymously did so.

Whitman’s literary career didn’t truly begin until the mid-1850s when he published Leaves of Grass (1855), which became his most famous and influential work. At the time of publication, Leaves of Grass was a mild success mainly because of a glowing review from popular writer and orator Ralph Waldo Emerson; however, critics criticized Whitman’s poetry for its sexual themes and some took issue with because of the homoerotic nature of the poetry.

During the American Civil War, Whitman worked various government jobs and volunteered as a nurse for the Union. The experience of seeing the wounded greatly affected Whitman and he wrote about his experiences during the war in many later poems.

Whitman’s reputation improved near the end of his life—especially outside of the United States. Later in life and especially after his death, critics noted his contributions to American poetry, and in the 2000s, most poets and scholars consider him a quintessential American poet. Critics credit Whitman with advancing the free verse format. He based his cadence on the rhythm of the Christian bible, and most of his poetry rejected traditional structures, form, rhyme, and subject matter. His influence on poetry after the 19th century is indisputable.

Whitman died on March 26, 1892.

Poem Text

O Captain! My Captain!

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.

Whitman, Walt. “O Captain! My Captain!” The Saturday Press, 4 Nov. 1865. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

Whitman writes “O Captain! My Captain!” in vague, enduring terminology. The poem does not establish a time, place, or subject matter; instead, Whitman writes it in classic, almost romantic metaphorical diction.

The speaker opens the poem by directly addressing “my Captain!” (Line 1), speaking in the first-person. The speaker is jubilant, using exclamation points early in the poem and the repetition of the captain’s title. The pronouncement that “our fearful trip is done / The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won” (Lines 1-2) echoes the jubilee, suggesting whatever trial on which the speaker and captain had embarked has now successfully concluded. As the speaker’s ship nears the port, the speaker hears bells and people cheering as the ship approaches the shore. But the speaker’s glee turns to shock and sorrow when he sees his Captain bleeding, cold, and dead.

The second stanza begins with the speaker begging for the captain to rise and hear the celebration. He claims the celebration is for the captain, saying:

“...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;” (Lines 10-12).

All of these images of celebration—flags, music, flowers, cheers, and eager faces—are for the captain, who led his men to victory. The speaker calls the captain “dear father!” (Line 13) as he wonders if it is a dream to hold the dying man in his arms.

In the final stanza, the speaker says the captain does not answer his pleas, and describes the captain’s lifeless face as “pale and still” (Line 17). The poem concludes with the dual imagery of the celebration on the shore and the “mournful tread” (Line 22) of the speaker, who once again reminds the reader that the captain is dead.