O Captain! My Captain! BY 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 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.

1. Who is the speaker of the poem? What do we know about the relationship between the
speaker and his “captain”?
2. What is the tone of the poem? In other words, what is the attitude of the speaker towards
his captain?
3. What happens in line 5 of the poem? How does the tone change in this line?
4. In line 5, the repetition of the word “heart” is repeated three consecutive times. How is
this sound imagery appropriate here?
5. What visual imagery is present in the first stanza? What are specific words which give
the reader sensory imagery?
6. In stanza 2, what sound imagery is present? Identify specific words.
7. What word does the speaker use in stanza 2 to refer to his captain? What does this
suggest about how the speaker feels toward his captain?
8. What touch imagery is present in stanza 2? Be specific.
9. What is the tone of the line “It is some dream…”? What word would best describe the toe
of this line?
10. What is the speaker’s attitude in the stanza 3? How does the reader know that the captain
is dead in the final stanza? What words create images of death?
11. What line is repeated at the end of every stanza? What is the effect of this repetition?
12. What might the fact that the speaker now walks the same deck the captain walked suggest
about the speaker’s sense of purpose now that his captain is dead?
13. What is the extended metaphor of the poem? In other words, what two things are being
compared throughout the poem? (Remember that this poem is set during the Civil
War).This may help:
a. The captain is compared to .
b. The ship is compared to .
c. The “fearful trip” that is done in stanza 1 is .
d. The “prize we sought” in stanza 3 is .
14. In reference to the extended metaphor of the poem, explain the line in the last stanza,
“The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done.”
15. If the captain of the ship is Abraham Lincoln, president of the U. S. during the Civil War,
how does he die? How is the Captain’s death in the poem similar to President Lincoln’s?