My captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills įor you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding įor you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning O captain! my captain! rise up and hear the bells While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring: The port is near, the bells I hear, the people are exulting, The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won O CAPTAIN! my captain! our fearful trip is done While this poem carries a patriotic tone with the speaker’s love for his captain, it also highlights the sadness brought on by war, even those with victorious outcomes.Įleanor Haeg is an English major and Creative Writing minor at Washington and Lee but hails from Minneapolis.The noted poet Walt Whitman composed this poem in memory of Lincoln shortly after his assassination.

In the third stanza, the speaker realizes that his love for his Captain leads him “with mournful tread” to “(w)alk the deck (his) captain lies” while bells are ringing and citizens celebrate (22-23). In the second stanza, the speaker attempts to coax excitement from his captain, drawing attention to the “ribbon’d wreaths” and “shores a-crowding” in honor of his arrival (line 11). The next two stanzas a similar conflict between jubilant excitement and solemn mourning the loss of the Captain. Although the first stanza begins with a joyous tone, it ends with the crushing realization that the speaker’s hero, his “dear father,” is dead. The prize is the abolition of slavery and being the winner of the war, but it does in fact come at the price of war and bloodshed, as the speaker turns to his Captain who has “Fallen cold and dead” (line 8). In the first stanza, the speaker rejoices beside the poet’s hero, exclaiming, “our fearful trip is done / The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won” (lines 1-2). Whitman, like Lincoln, was an abolitionist who supported the Union. Written in 1865, this poem’s undertones are victorious because the Union has won the war and slavery will be abolished. Although President’s Day falls on George Washington’s birthday, it would be difficult to ignore the intention behind “O Captain! My Captain!,” a poem written to honor a well-loved president and commemorate one of the most important events in United States history, the Civil War. In honor of President’s Day, here’s a tribute to our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln, by American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892). The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done įrom fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills įor you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding įor you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done

O captin my csatpin