O Captain! My Captain!

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 or 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.

   This poem though militaristic, actually refers to Whitman’s own dismay at the death of Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865. The poem, by referring to Lincoln as “My Captain” or “My Father” shows just how supportive the people were of Lincoln and his policies and what faith they had in their president. It also glorifies the Civil War through its ardent patriotism, through his use of a militaristic setting, and by doing that, glorifies everything that Lincoln did for the Union. The poem also infers that Lincoln died for a cause, despite the fact that in reality, he was assassinated. His cause was to restore the union, and truthfully he did die nobly for his cause by being assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a southerner who like many, did not like Lincoln’s new policies for the south. However, by assassinating Lincoln, the southerners actually 
 

    Every time, I read this poem, I think of the movie Dead Poet’s Society when the boys stand on their desks and recite the poem as an act of retaliation against their schoolmaster for firing the only good teacher they ever really had. In a way, I think that Whitman’s original intention was very similar, only directed at Abraham Lincoln instead. I love this poem because it really represents the romanticism of Whitman’s time and I can just imagine myself getting all emotional if I heard this poem during his time. It is patriotic, eloquent, and yet short. Not only, does it represent the sadness of his untimely death, but it also demonstrates how his death was the ending of an era, and a very important one at that.