Oh Captain My Captain Poem

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Recommended: Legacy of the assassination of Lincoln

“O Captain! My Captain!” “Oh Captain! My Captain!” in a poem by Walt Whitman in 1865 shortly after the death of the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. This poem shows how a leader, or captain, can bring people through very difficult times. The example the poem itself uses is the captain of the ship leading his crew through perilous weather and conditions on the sea, but still getting them through it. However, he may have got his crew through the journey, but he himself is overcome by the burden. The poem is written in a way that it could almost be sung like a song. The entire poem is an allusion to the assassination of President Lincoln. The first stanza of the poem is sort of a rise and fall in happiness. In lines 1 and 2, the speaker calls out to his captain in joy that they’ve finally made it home after such a long, frightening journey. The ship has made it through every “rack” and the crew has finally accomplished what they needed to do, “the prize we sought is won.” Lines 3 and 4 begin signifying that the boat is not yet safely docked yet, the speaker is just a...

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