Remy Tipei
8-1
5/8/00
Oh Captain My Captain
Oh captain my captain is one of the best known poems about the civil war and the death of President Abraham Lincoln.
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered 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 ribboned wreaths--for you the shores accrowding,
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 anchored 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.
Walt Whitman
(1819-1892)
When this poem is read many people do not realize that it was written about Abraham Lincoln, but once informed of this fact it seems fairly obvious. The phrase "Oh Captain My Captain" is not referring to the captain of a real ship, but rather a fearless leader. Abraham Lincoln was nothing less than a fearless leader who lead the Union to victory over the confederacy and to a freer country for African-Americans. In the end the prize Lincoln sought was won.
The port they are going to arrive at is a metaphor for an end to the civil war, and the captain lying cold and dead is a metaphor for the assassination of Lincoln. In fact the entire poem symbolizes the death and victory of Lincoln. The poem delivers the powerful sense of mourning even at the greatest time of rejoicing.
As for the structure of the poem itself, there is much to be said. While the entire poem symbolizes the end of the war and refers metaphorically to Lincoln as the captain of a ship it also has excellent examples of alliteration, mood, imagery, and rhythm. In my opinion good examples of alliteration only appear twice in the poem the first being the phrase "For you the flag is flung" This phrase gives a favorably fervent and fantastically fabulous feeling of the "F" sound flung forward at us. The second being the realistically reduced sound of the letter "R" in the phrase "For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths." The whole poem creates an excellent sense of sadness in one of the happiest moments in the history of the U.S. It manages to accomplish this by putting the entire situation of the civil wars ending and Lincoln’s end as well into the much simpler terms of ship reaching the end of it’s voyage as the captain dies. By simplifying this complex situation Whitman allows us to view the whole situation condensed into the way he viewed it himself. As an interesting side note, Whitman never felt comfortable with this poem's structure and prosody and revised it many times. He could never figure out why this poem was so successful and other poems were not.
A Veteran's Explanation
Comments by Remy A. Tipei
The following is an excerpt from the book A Civil War Treasury, Of Tales Legends And Folklore on pages 155 and 156. It is entitled "A Veteran Explains Why the Union Army Let Negroes Fight". It is written as a narrative that was documented by a second person. I believe it was probably some sort of newspaper article at one time or another.
A Veteran explains
Why the Union Army Let Negroes Fight
NINETY-ONE-YEAR-OLD Richard Slaughter, who enlisted in the Union army has his own version of how Negroes came to have the privilege of fighting.
Douglass went to Abe Lincoln an’ tole him to give de black man guns an’ let him fight. Abe Lincoln say " If I give him gun, when de battle start he run."
Frederick Douglass say: " Try him an’ you’ll win de war." Abe say: "All right Frederick, I’ll try him once." Congress didn’t like it, but he made ‘em like it. Den de was more trouble. Wouldn’t no General but one take de colored boys. General Peg-Leg Butler, he say, "I’ll take ‘em." An’ you know why? ‘cause his cavalry didn’t have nothin’ but black horses, an’ dem white men didn’t look right on black horses. Put dem Negroes on black horses, an’ dey look jus’ right. Look like I can see dem boys now. Arter dey fight de fust battle, den ev’y general in Lincoln’s army wanted ‘em. Dey was de braves’ soldiers de Yanks ever had.
-The Negro in Virginia
Although it appears that Richard Slaughter is a complete imbecile due to his mannerism of speech and apparent lack of understanding the complexity of the situation he is describing, he does summarize the situation very well. While to my knowledge Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas never had this actual discussion it does sum up both of their parties reasons why they should or shouldn’t allow African-Americans to fight in the Civil War. One interesting thing to me about this excerpt is that while it seems to have been written by a supporter of the Union it actually seems more logical to assume the author was a confederate. The first reason for saying this is that the speech involved is totally demeaning to the former president. And the second is that a supporter of the Union would probably try to make someone who is proud to have served in the Union Army sound as appealing as possible whether that person is a genius or an imbecile. The author definitely didn’t make Richard Slaughter sound all that appealing.