1. What is the tone of this poem (the persona's attitude toward his subject) and how do you know? Provide quotes to support your answer.
2. What is the extended metaphor in this poem, and what ideas about Abraham Lincoln does it convey? What does it also suggest about America?
3. Choose any ONE of the following poetic devices, identify where you see it in the poem (quotes), and connect to meaning: punctuation, capitalization, imagery, alliteration, apostrophe, or the imperative.
The tone of the poem "O Captain! My Captain", by Walt Whitman, starts of that the speaker is excited. He started the first 2 sections off with "O CAPTAIN! my Captain". He expresses his enthusiasm toward his captain, Abe Lincoln. But the tone changes at the end of the poem. The speaker changes to sorrowful and sad. He stated, "But I, with mournful tread,-Walk the deck my Captain lies,-Fallen cold and dead" (21-23).
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Question #2) In the poem “O Captain! My Captain!”, by Walt Whitman, he is using the metaphor of a captain and his ship to represent Abraham Lincoln and America. This is very fitting for Abraham Lincoln, especially can be demonstrated with the title/quote “O Captain! My Captain!”. The connotation I get when I hear “Captain” I think of someone who is a leader, protective of his/her crew, and will go down with the ship, fighting until the end. When applied to Abraham Lincoln, he is such a big leader and important figure in American History, along with being a protector of America. He will also keep fighting until the end, fighting for freedom of America, protecting the rights of the people, and for the abolishment of slavery. Following on, we can infer that Abraham was very well loved and celebrated for his accomplishments from the quote “shores a-crowding” and “their eager faces turning”. The people of America are celebrating what Abraham Lincoln has done for all Americans, they are very thankful for him as a leader. The persona refers to the Captain as “father”, representing how Lincoln was a founding father of America. Lincoln’s death was a tragedy, felt by everyone across the country, but he left “[the] ship….anchor’d safe and sound”, he has left America as a better place and the battle won for the abolition of slavery. Overall, this metaphor created by Whitman shows the underlying meaning that Lincoln did not die in vain, he had been an amazing protector of our nation and had fought until the end for the unalienable rights of all the people. (Jenna Moy, 3rd Period)
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ReplyDeleteThe poem “O Captain! My Captain!” written by Walt Whitman repeats the headline throughout every stanza. One example would be “O Captain! My Captain! Rise up and hear the bells;” in line nine or “you've fallen cold and dead” in line sixteen. The author used apostophe in his literal work because he wanted to “speak” directly to Abraham Lincoln, who is the Captain, and tell him how his ship, America, is doing after his death and tell him that he was a good protector and leader for his country. He wanted to let him know that even after his death he has a meaning to all the people in America and that everyone is thankful for what Lincoln provoked in his life and for what he fought for. For example the equality of all humans and against slavery. In line thirteen Whitman did not only call him “captain” but also “dear father” which shows again that Abraham Lincoln meant a lot to the author who maybe wrote the poem to handle Lincoln's death and his sorrow because of the loss. Summing up, Walt Whitman wrote this poem to thank Abraham Lincoln for everything he has done to make this world a better place to live and for his will to fight and never give up.
Anna Goettler
Response by Diana Arreguin
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Question #1) What is the tone of this poem (the persona's attitude toward his subject) and how do you know? Provide quotes to support your answer.
The tone of the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman is frantic in the beginning. The speaker's use of repetition “O Captain! My Captain!” and exclamation points reflects the persona’s attitude of being shocked and conflicted. The speaker exclaims “O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up-for you the flag is flung- for you the bugle trills;”.The speaker is conflicted on how to handle/process his captain's (Abraham Lincoln) death and can't face the truth of his loss. The persona's attitude toward his subject at the end of the poem is defeated. He states “But I, with mournful tread,” meaning that the loss of his captain deeply affects the speaker. By the end of the poem the speaker is forced to face the undeniable truth on the fact that his captain is truly dead when he begins to “Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.”
1. In the poem "O captain! My Captain!" By Walt Whitman, he uses a very relieved and happy tone, since he's happy that someone is finally changing things and he's very thankful towards that. When he says, "the port is near, the bells I hear," this is a metaphor that clearly states his relief and excitement and by doing that he uses the word "bells" which makes you think of something cheerfully and joyfully, he uses that to express his excitement. When he also says "O Captain! My Captain!" And repeats it a lot, it shows how thankful he is but also how happy he is because of the exclaimation points. Overall his tone is very loud and he's making sure that his voice is heard so that he can express how happy and thankful he is. But the authors tone gets sad at one point too, since he reflect on the death of Ambraham, "You've fallen cold and dead." This shows a change in tone, and how the author shows his appreciation towards him but also how sad he is of his death, so it shows a contrast in different tones to show his direct feelings towards the captain(Abraham). And just by calling him "Captain" shows how important Amraham is to the reader. So overall he has different tones and changes in tones but he's mostly very appreciative and thankful.
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