Walt Whitman- O Captain! My Captain!

1. Walt Whitman- O Captain! My Captain! By Mollie Shaw

2. Biography • Whitman was born on May 31, 1819. • He began attending public school in Brooklyn in 1825, but quit in 1830 to work as an office boy. However, he continued to teach himself for many years. • Walt taught school from 1836 to 1838. When he began teaching he was only sixteen years old and had just 5 years of education. • Whitman worked for several newspapers throughout his career, including the Long Islander, The New World, the Evening Star, the Daily Eagle, and many more. • Walt published Leaves of Grass at his own expense because most publishers of the time considered his poetry too radically different from conventional poets of the time. • In his career, Whitman published several short stories in addition to his poetry. His first story was called Death in the School-Room. • Although Whitman’s parents didn’t follow a set religion, Walt had great respect for the philosophy of the Quakers. • Whitman hated teaching school and was strongly against corporal punishment. • Whitman died on March 26, 1892.

3. O Captain! My Captain! O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done,The ship has weathered 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 ribboned 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 anchored 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.

4. Opinions of Whitman and His Work • When Whitman published the first edition of Leaves of Grass, geologist John Peter Lesley wrote to Emerson. He called the book "trashy, profane & obscene" and Whitman "a pretentious ass". • Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of Whitman’s biggest supporters, when Walt was still unknown, Emerson wrote to him saying "I give you joy of your free and brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incomparably well.” • The abolitionist Sojourner Truth heard Whitman’s poetry and believed that “It was God who wrote it, he chose the man—to give his message.” • Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, said that "there is no one in this wide great world of America whom I love and honor so much".

5. Rhyme Scheme of O Captain! My Captain! O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done, AThe ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won, AThe port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, BWhile follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; CBut O heart! heart! heart! DO the bleeding drops of red, EWhere on the deck my Captain lies, FFallen cold and dead. EO Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; GRise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills, GFor you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding, HFor you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; IHere Captain! dear father! JThis arm beneath your head! EIt is some dream that on the deck, KYou've fallen cold and dead. EMy Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still; LMy father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will; LThe ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done; AFrom fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; AExult O shores, and ring O bells! GBut I, with mournful tread, EWalk the deck my Captain lies, FFallen cold and dead. E

6. The Captain that is referred to in the poem is symbolic for Abraham Lincoln after his assassination. • The ship is representative of the U.S., and the “fearful trip” symbolizes the troubles that the country faced during the Civil War. • Inversion is used in line 7 “ Where on the deck my Captain lies,”. The normal word order would be- My Captain lies on the deck. • The poem is an elegy, a poem written to mourn the dead. Whitman wrote the poem to honor the fallen Abraham Lincoln. • The poem does not have a fixed meter, but it does have a rhythm. • Repetition is used in several lines. Whitman repeats the word “heart” because of the speaker’s grief at the loss of his “Captain”. He also repeats the line “ fallen cold and dead” to add finality to the sense of loss. Literary devices and figurative language in O Captain! My Captain!

7. This is a trailer for the movie Dead Poets Society that makes a reference to O Captain! My Captain! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RbY2iTOUQA • I just had to include this clip of a little boy reciting the poem because it is so cute! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMF8iH_mYFU&feature=related Video Clip

8. Resources http://www.brighthub.com/education/homework-tips/articles/62444.aspx http://www.poetry-online.org/whitman_o_captain_my_captain.htm http://whitmanarchive.org/biography/chronology.html http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/wwhitman.htm http://englishisallaround.blogspot.com/2008/05/o-captain-my-captain-by-walt-whitman.html