O Captain! My Captain!

"O Captain! my Captain!"
Walt Whitman

1

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.

2

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.

3

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor 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.

Walt Whitman's famous poem treats the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The extended metaphor in the poem, in which the "Captain" is Lincoln and the "ship" represents the United States of America, is an unusually conventional poem for Whitman. The only poem to be anthologized during his lifetime, the metaphors and regular rhyme and meter make the poem fairly boring as far as tropes and figuration goes. Once the comparison between Lincoln and the Captain are realized, the poem easily gives up its meaning.

The more interesting topic for this study, at least, is the implicit homoeroticism of the the poem. Though both sexes have written about elegy ("Elegy in a Country Churchyard" and "Lycidas" come to mind for masculine elegies), this kind of sentimental, lyric elegy is a form more commonly associated with women than with men. The common meter and fairly unimaginative trope, however, give the poem a decidedly feminine sentimentality. Coming from a male poet, this complicates the relationship between the speaker and his metaphorical object. Other moments in the poem, including the "bleeding drops of red" from the Captain's heart, the speaker's "arm beneath your head", and the Captain's inability to feel the speaker's arm, suggest more physical and emotional intimacy than Walt Whitman had with Abraham Lincoln. I would never argue that this poem is about a lover of Whitman's, but the way in which Whitman sentimentalizes Lincoln's assassination and their intimacy suggests a deeper connection than merely one of national identity. Written by one man about another, the poem posits an interesting relationship between citizen and political leader, figuring the relationship in terms of a man to his slain beloved, in this case another man. Discussing Whitman's poem should lead to a discussion of biography--Whitman was decidedly homosexual--and the ways in which experience can alter poetic utterance. A straight man would likely not have written such a poem, positioning himself so close to his metaphorical subject. Why Whitman figured himself so close may be a subtle nod to his sexuality or a re-imagining of citizenship and the relation between citizen and elected leader. Either way, the poem offers a way of discussing the subtleties of sexuality in poetry.

1) Analyze the meter and rhyme of the poem. Is it regular? Is it sentimental [this poem would get a brief discussion of sentimentality]? Knowing that sentimental elegy is a primarily feminine form, what can you say about the Whitman's chosen form?
2) Consider the extended metaphor--what are the primary objects? Knowing this poem was written in 1865, who do you think might be the Captain? What might be the ship or the "fearful trip"? Is it strange to be sentimental about such a horrific event in American history?
3) Note the relationship between the speaker and the Captain. How close do they become? Knowing what this poem is about, does this relationship seem realistic? Why might Whitman, a man, write about becoming so close to his male leader? Is the relationship homoerotic, or merely a figuration of the relationship between a citizen and a beloved leader?