Comparing O Captain ! And Elegy For J. F. K.

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O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman can be connected to Elegy for J.F.K by W.H. Alden. They are similar in how they both seem to be about remembering the lives of former presidents—Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. The poems both explain how people choose to remember the two—with good or bad memories. The poems are about sorrow and joy for the two presidents. The speakers in both poems seem to be questioning why the great men had to die. In O Captain! My Captain! the speaker says that “It is some dream,” and in Elegy for J.F.K., the speaker asks, “did he die?” The speakers do not want to believe that the deaths of two important men happened. The two poems also share the fact that they use repetition. The phrases being repeated are “O Captain! my Captain!”, …show more content…

When my grandpa died, my whole family experienced a period of depression. In the poem and in the event that my grandpa died, everyone was sad and mourning, but people also celebrated the life he lived. Eventually everyone accepted that he, Lincoln and my grandpa, was gone. They accepted that he was now in a better place. When my grandpa died, we had a shrine of some sort to honor him and give offerings. In O Captain! My Captain! the speaker explains that “the flag is flung” for the fallen captain. That can be compared to a shrine of some sort because it is seen as an offering and a sign of respect. Also, the poem explains that there are “bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths.” Those two items are significant for a funeral. The poem is explaining a funeral for one man that includes the whole nation, and since the nation participated, that explains that they were close with Lincoln and respected his ideas highly. The funeral service for my grandpa included my whole family as well as many friends. Of course, all who knew attended. It was a

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