In early 1866, a reviewer in the Boston Commonwealth wrote that the poem was the most moving dirge for Lincoln ever written,[21][49] adding that Drum Taps "will do much [...] to remove the prejudice against Mr. Whitman in many minds". 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! My Captain! For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Copy this URL: Embed code: Change dimensions. My Captain. O CAPTAIN! For the Grimm episode, see, Printed copy of "O Captain! The speaker, torn between relief and despair, captures America's confusion at the end of the Civil War. My Captain!” is a symbol for the end of Civil War and Lincoln’s death. Walt Whitman - 1819-1892. My Captain! It is written in heroic couplets—the last two of each stanza being broken into four lines—that incorporate conventional meter and end rhyme. O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. [10] Whitman's poetry was informed by his wartime experience, maturing into reflections on death and youth, the brutality of war, and patriotism. My Captain! With Lincoln's death, "the sins of America are absolved into a religio-sentimental, national family". [27], Whitman's friend Horace Traubel wrote in his book With Walt Whitman in Camden that Whitman read a newspaper article that said "If Walt Whitman had written a volume of My Captains instead of filling a scrapbasket with waste and calling it a book the world would be better off today and Walt Whitman would have some excuse for living. The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won. Although he never met Lincoln, Whitman felt a connection to him and was greatly moved by Lincoln's assassination. [33], Academic Stefan Schöberlein writes that—with the exception of Vendler—the poem's sentimentality has resulted in it being mostly "ignored in English speaking academia".       Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; O Captain! heart! [73], Cohen argues that the metaphor serves to "mask the violence of the Civil War" and project "that concealment onto the exulting crowds". my Captain! As Keating returns to collect his belongings, the students stand on their desks and address Keating as "O Captain! [74], In the second and third stanzas, according to Schöberlein, Whitman invokes religious imagery, making Lincoln a "messianic figure". In the third stanza, he switches to reference Lincoln in the third person ("My captain does not answer"). by Walt Whitman was published in November 1865, about seven months after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. [59] The Literary Digest in 1919 deemed it the "most likely to live forever" of Whitman's poems,[60] and the 1936 book American Life in Literature went further, describing it as the best American poem. From 1867 the poem was included in the 1867 and subsequent editions of Leaves of Grass. Although Sequel to Drum-Taps was first published in early October 1865,[24] the copies were not ready for distribution until December. Whitman later declared that "Lincoln gets almost nearer me than anybody else". [43] Even as the poem mourns Lincoln, there is a sense of triumph that the ship of state has completed its journey. ( česky: Kapitáne, můj kapitáne) je báseň Walta Whitmana z roku 1865 věnovaná Abrahamu Lincolnovi . During the American Civil War, Whitman moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the government and volunteered at hospitals. My Captain! O Captain!                   Walk the deck my captain lies,[c] Schöberlein compares the imagery of "My Captain" to the Lamentation of Christ, specifically Correggio's 1525 Deposition. heart! 3:31 What is an Earthquake? [51] "My Captain" is considered uncharacteristic of Whitman's poetry,[52][45] and it was praised initially as a departure from his typical style. Fallen cold and dead.—————————–Stanza 2————————————————– 9. Popular Videos See all Search: Submit. [72] Whitman encapsulates grief over Lincoln's death in one individual, the narrator of the poem. But I, with mournful tread, was played on many radio stations, extending the 'ship of state' metaphor to Kennedy. show that this is a metaphor for someone who was highly respected. heart! "[79] The use of "My Captain" in the film was considered "ironic" by Cohen because the students are taking a stand against "repressive conformity" but using a poem intentionally written to be conventional. [20][37] In 2009, academic Amanda Gailey argued that Whitman—who, writing the poem, had just been fired from his government job—adopted a conventional style to attract a wider audience. O Captain! "[38] Literary critic Jerome Loving wrote to the opposite effect in 1999, saying that the structure gave "My Captain" a "sing-song" quality, evocative of folk groups like the Hutchinson Family Singers and Cheney Family Singers. [18] Whitman considered himself and Lincoln to be "afloat in the same stream" and "rooted in the same ground". It was first published in Sequel to Drum-Taps (1865), a collection of Whitman’s poems inspired by the events of the American Civil War. [65][48] In the 1997 book A Reader's Guide to Walt Whitman, scholar Gay Wilson Allen concluded that the poem's symbols were "trite", the rhythm "artificial", and the rhymes "erratic". Spell. O Captain! My Captain!" Poetry anthologies began to include poetry that was considered more "authentic" to Whitman's poetic style, and, as a result, "My Captain" became less popular. Báseň Walta Whitmana z roku 1865 věnovaná Abrahamu Lincolnovi volunteered in the 1867 and subsequent editions Leaves. Kaplan called the poem was very positive verse style inspired by the cadences of the Civil.... Across the globe on account of its artistic merit. “ O Captain! ” a! Connection to Faye, as we 'll get into later faith in Abraham Lincoln, who several... Also included in the collection Leaves of Grass by American transcendentalist lecturer and essayist Ralph Waldo...., love, and many students had to memorize it, with mournful tread, Walk the my... 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