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“O Captain! My Captain!” Whitman Mourns Abe Lincoln’s Death in This Powerful Elegy

“O Captain! My Captain!” Whitman Mourns Abe Lincoln’s Death in This Powerful Elegy

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A long, dangerous voyage successfully completed! The ship’s crew is returning to the shore to be greeted by their loved ones. Bugles trill.  People cheer and marvel at the great ship coming in. There’s only one problem.. O Captain! My Captain!

“O Captain! My Captain!”

by Walt Whitman

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’s tragic song honors the United State’s 16th President Abraham Lincoln. Walt Whitman wrote “O Captain! My Captain” as a tribute to Abe Lincoln’s abrupt passing. The symbolism is as follows: Lincoln was the captain of the Union. He steered the nation into a new world of civil rights. However, just as the ship was coming in and the Civil War was coming to a close, Abe Lincoln was assassinated. Lincoln was murdered just six days after General Lee surrendered and 3 weeks before the war was declared over.

As the emancipator of slaves, Honest Abe is one of USA’s most beloved presidents. This elegy beautifully articulates how far Lincoln brought the nation; and how tragically he was denied the celebration of the voyage he carried us through.

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