O Captain!

O Captain! My Captain!

by Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather'd every rack, th 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 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.

The poem of my choice from the selections given is the first one, titled O Captain! My Captain!. It stands out from the other poems in the excerpt because unlike the other poems given, O Captain had the most of a story to it, and what a story it was.

The general concept of O Captain! was that it is a bittersweet tale of returning home from sea (implied a great battle or quest, though more likely the former) to an eager crowd and much rejoicing, only for the one of the crew narrating the poem to remember that the captain of the ship had perished sometime during the course of the voyage, and therefore the "victory" spoken of before is no longer as welcoming as it would have been with the captain present - and alive. In this poem, there are several more hints as to the setting and the mood than at first glance. Quite a few times in the text, it is implied that the particular crew member who happened to be narrating the piece had a stronger bond with the Captain than what usually would be expected of someone like he. As the captain is often referred to as "father" throughout the piece, we can only assume that is the sort of relationship the two characters had prior to the Captain's death. Another reason why it is assumed that the two characters had a very close relationship is the drastic change in mood that occasionally occurs in the middle of a stave. With the first few lines, it would sound as though the crew member was gleefully announcing the victory and eagerly awaiting the celebrations that were to occur on shore, although nearly halfway through the first stave, when it is revealed to the reader that the Captain is, in fact, dead, the timing of the change of mood is crucial, as if the crewman had just remembered of the Captain's unfortunate demise. This mood change expresses the disappointment of the crewman, having a damper put on the joy of returning home because of what had transpired out at sea. A more specific way this disappointment is expressed is near the bottom of the second stave. As, in the first half of the stave, the rejoicings are almost repeated from the first stave, eagerly informing the Captain of what is to come when the ship is at port, there is yet another cruel remembering of the Captain's fate, and this time, unlike the first, it is accompanied with an explicit denial of the Captain's death, showing all too well the crewman's son-to-father affection toward the Captain.

"It is some dream that on the deck

You've fallen cold and dead."

The third stave, unlike the first two, shows some advancement in the piece's story, having the crewman finally admit to himself of the Captain's passing, and therefore causes the complete mood of the poem to shift from moderately somber to fully somber as the reader is shown the crewman's complete and true emotions, however briefly and subtly. He has finally come to terms with the fact that the Captain is dead, and this thought weighs heavy on his mind as he begins to depart from the ship, walking the very deck that his captain was found dead upon.

EDIT: this poem is about Abraham Lincoln my mind is blown yours may not be but mine is