O Captain!

         I have never been one to read poetry.  I have nothing against it, but seem to lack the ability to connect with most poems, the way others are awed and inspired by them.  Occasionally, however, I do come across a poem that can invoke the thoughts and images the author is sending across the literary bridge.  The imagery is such that vivid and bright pictures of the poetry’s content come into my mind’s eye.  This is why I chose the poem “Oh Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman.  Besides the obvious military-type references that caught me right off (being a veteran myself), the language and descriptions used by the poem made me want to delve deeper into its meaning, which is an urge rarely conjured by this particular type of literary medium.
         Walt Whitman’s poem is composed of three verses, each of which contains eight versified lines, for a total of twenty-four lines.  Rhymes and off-rhymes are used throughout in a predictable pattern. The poem is spoken in the first-person, in which a mournful sailor is lamenting the fall of his captain.  During the first half of each verse, a scene of elation for the homecoming of a victorious naval ship is described. The second half seems to give the sailor’s own personal view of the situation, on how, although there is much celebration for the victory at hand, the man who led the crew to victory has fallen.  It is also worth mentioning that repeats a variation of the same line at the end of each verse: “Fallen cold and dead.”
         “O Captain! My Captain!” is filled with vivid imagery and symbolism.  This particular poem was written as an elegy to Abraham Lincoln, after he was assassinated.  One can surmise that the fallen captain symbolizes our 16th president, and the victorious ship as the victory in the Civil War and the continued unity of the United States.  Although jubilant over said victory through the first part of each verse, the second part changes the mood to sorrow and anguish, bemoaning the loss of the person that led the ship (the country) to victory.  The imagery is particularly intense when Whitman states, “O the bleeding drops of red,/Where on the deck my Captain lies,/Fallen cold and dead.” (lines 6-8)
         Having seen myself the toll war takes, this vivid poem really hit me, and I could visualize myself being there.  I could see myself looking down over the side of the ship to “…the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;”(12)  Then I could see the carnage wrought upon my commanding officer, whose “…lips are pale and still,”(17) a sight unseen by the crowds below.  One could compare this to how service members return from war today.  Although they see the crowds cheering for them as they exit their transport, inside of them a war is still raging, and the damaged caused is unseen, and often, not understood by others.
         Upon researching the poet, I have found that Whitman’s poems main themes were often based on freedom.  With this poem, he expresses the happiness of a nation that has been reunified and for the abolition of slavery.  He also expresses the feelings of deep loss for one of our nation’s greatest leaders.  His use of colorful and vivid imagery bring the sights and sounds of the scene to one’s mind, but lend to something more on a deeper level.  Taken at its face value, or delving deeper into its meaning, Walt Whitman’s poem “O Captain! My Captain” is a great piece in American literature.