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O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman
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.
Study
Considering the extended metaphor complete the following:
Captain = Lincoln
the ship = ________________________
its voyage = ________________________
every rack = ________________________
the prize we sought = _________________
What is the mood of the first stanza?
What is happening in the second stanza?
What is the scene of the third stanza?
What does the poet want to believe in the fourth stanza?
What does he conclude in the fifth stanza?
What is the contrast in moods in the sixth stanza?
Note the rhyme scheme : some stanzas are built couplets (pairs of rhyming lines) while other stanzas alternate (and are parallel to each other)
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