“Oh Captain! My Captain!” is about a son who is attempting to inform his father about good news, unaware that his father has just passed away in a battle. Walt Whitman, the author of “Oh Captain! My Captain!” laments over the loss of his hero, Abraham Lincoln and viewed him as the greatest president in United States History. Whitman saw a “grand tragedy that promised ultimate purgation and unification for America” in the death of Lincoln (Reynolds). Because of this view on President Lincoln, Whitman needed to grieve in some form so he created an eulogy in the form of a poem. The poem is written entirely from the son’s point of view wants to expressing encouraging news to his father. Whitman wrote this in parallel structure to himself being the son and Lincoln being the father; this shows Whitman’s “deep respect for president Lincoln and
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Couplets like lines one and two (“done” and “won”) and lines seventeen and eighteen (“still” and “will”). Other couplets “like lines 9 and 10 have near, or slant, rhyme (“bells” and “trills”), meaning that the end words rhyme, but not so closely” (Shmoop Editorial Team).Whitman purposefully did not have all his couplets carry out a steady rhyme as this poem is written about death and does not need to be sung about. One of the apostrophes is in the title, the first and second stanza opening lines which is “Oh Captain! My Captain.” Line five of the third stanza states,”Exult O shores, and ring O bells!" which is an apostrophe swell (Lorcher). Alliteration is shown in two cases, line ten “flag is flung”, as well as in line nineteen “safe and sound”. There is an illusion to the victory for the union in the Civil War. Consonance is shown through the fearful trip of the victor ship. This poem was written in dirge which is defines by, “comes out of the early Christian Church when Christians would say morning prayers for, among others, the dead” (Shmoop Editorial
Couplets like lines one and two (“done” and “won”) and lines seventeen and eighteen (“still” and “will”). Other couplets “like lines 9 and 10 have near, or slant, rhyme (“bells” and “trills”), meaning that the end words rhyme, but not so closely” (Shmoop Editorial Team).Whitman purposefully did not have all his couplets carry out a steady rhyme as this poem is written about death and does not need to be sung about. One of the apostrophes is in the title, the first and second stanza opening lines which is “Oh Captain! My Captain.” Line five of the third stanza states,”Exult O shores, and ring O bells!" which is an apostrophe swell (Lorcher). Alliteration is shown in two cases, line ten “flag is flung”, as well as in line nineteen “safe and sound”. There is an illusion to the victory for the union in the Civil War. Consonance is shown through the fearful trip of the victor ship. This poem was written in dirge which is defines by, “comes out of the early Christian Church when Christians would say morning prayers for, among others, the dead” (Shmoop Editorial