O captain! My captain! summary | Poem by Walt whitman

O captain! My captain! 

By walt Whitman

Background

O captain! my captain! by Walt Whitman is an elegy written in acknowledgment of Abraham Lincoln, the first president of United States of America. He praises him as the leader of the country.

 This poem was written after the American civil war, when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated during 1920s. Walt Whitman in this poem o captain my captain describes his respect, love and sadness towards his president, the country's leader and praising him as Captain.

This poem can also be called a metaphor as their are plenty of imageries which have been used. Here in this poem America is compared to a ship and the president Abraham Lincoln is referred to as the captain of that ship.

O captain! My captain! Poem summary.

The poet starts by giving an honour and respect to his captain Abraham Lincoln saying that their fearful and hard journey has come to an end. There ship has survived every difficult situation and now they have got the prize for which they were fighting for so long means they have got their victory in the American Civil War for which they have gone through so much and finally won the battle.

He says that the port is near and he can see the port and hear the ringing of bells which mean he is getting the signal of the port being near. Everyone is celebrating their victory and the people are in joy hoping that after reaching the port they will meet their love ones and will get back to their normal life. All their eyes are on the immovable ship  and the vessels are looking horrifying and valorous.

In the next line he says O heart! heart! heart! Hear the poet is describing the condition of his heart which is filled with  pain and sadness seeing the bleeding and flowing of blood on the deck where his captain lies in a very cold and dead condition. Here we again see a metaphor describing the deck of the ship as the land of America and the captain, Abraham Lincoln is lying on it.

Here the Whitman pleads his captain to wake up, stand and here the ringing of the bells and see the flag that is hung for him and blowing of bugles and the people waiting for him with bunch of flowers and garlands for him to honour him for his victory. Large amount of crowd is gathered on the sea shores are eagerly waiting to see their captain.

Then he says to his captain that the crowd is shouting and calling their captain to wake-up and the impatient faces can't wait to see you. They are distressful. As the war is won and their is an environment of celebration they don't want to see Captain lying dead so they are asking him to wake up and celebrate the joy of victory. Yet their captain doesn't reply.

Here we can see a very significant metaphor where the crew is portraying their captain as their father. He is actually not their father but still they are praising him as their father because of their love and respect for their captain.

The captain's head is beneath his hands but the captain cannot feel them. The captain who was a dream himself and who use encourage others to dream is fallen on the deck cold and dead.

His lips are pale and they not moving at all and even he has no pulse nor will.

The ship has reached its destination and anchored safe and sound. It's journey is now over and done.

The ship has returned from this fearful and horrifying with honour and victory. Walt encourages the people on the shore to celebrate their victory and fill themselves with joy and the bells as hard as possible but he will not celebrate instead will tread or walk on the deck with deep sadness where his captain is lying cold and dead.