"O Captain! My Captain!"

Yet another author that I have heard many times spoken of in very high regard, similar to how Emily Dickenson is spoken about, Walt Whitman is a very popular author. We already had to read one of his poems, “Calvary Crossing a Ford,” and I was surprised when I heard the name Whitman to not be reading “O Captain, My Captain” because it is one of his works that is synonymous with his name, at least to me. Now that I am given the choice choose which poem by Whitman to read, I am going to have to go ahead and read “O Captain! My Captain!” so that I can see why everyone likes it so much.

As it turns out, “O Captain! My Captain!” is a fairly depressing poem. At first, I thought it was going to actually be about how these heroes come back from a dangerous trip alive. Then it is revealed to the reader that the Captain is indeed dead, and the narrator spends the rest of the poem lamenting his death and wishing and hoping that “it is some dream that on the deck, You’ve fallen cold and dead” (Whitman 15 – 16). The people of the port do not yet know that their hero is dead on the deck of the ship, for unknown reasons to the reader.

I do not think that this poem shows very much correlation or hint of effect from Emerson and Thoreau’s writings and philosophies. I say this because Emerson and Thoreau’s writing seemed to me more “boring” and more about how to live one’s life and teaching simplicity instead of the “epic story” this poem seems to resemble. It also seems to show nature as being an unfair entity, or a force, that kills a Captain who was about to arrive home after a difficult yet successful voyage. He was so close to fame and glory, but nature had to deny him the right; this characterization of nature would defiantly be different from how Emerson or Thoreau would have portrayed “her.”

Whitman, Walt. "O Captain! My Captain!, by Walt Whitman." Poetry Archive. Web. 19 Mar. 2012.