O Captain Three Themes in "O Captain! My Captain!"

Walt Whitman wrote "O Captain! My Captain!" In 1865 and it serves as an elegy to the President Lincoln, who had just been assassinated. As a patriotic American and the "poet of America" (as he called himself), Whitman was duty-bound to mourn the loss of the 16th U.S. president in verse. That he did so in a way completely opposite from his free verse "Song of Myself" -- the poem dedicated to himself and the spirit of freedom and license -- is telling. Lincoln, the "captain" of America during the critical time of the Civil War, represented order, structure and unity. These elements serve as the foundation of Whitman's "O Captain!" which deals with three themes in its three stanzas: a mission, fatherhood, and death. This paper will analyze these themes and show how they are brought about.

The theme of the mission is apparent in the first stanza: "The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won" (2). Whitman does not elaborate on the mission -- the "fearful trip" (1), but what is clear is that it is over: it has been accomplished, the bells are ringing, and the people at the port are in exultation. However, there has been a price. The tone suddenly turns from joyous and celebratory to grim and tragic: the "captain" that Whitman addresses is "fallen cold and dead" (8). Here, the theme of death is announced -- and it becomes the refrain of the poem, a repetition of the tragedy that has accompanied the successful steering of the ship.

Without some knowledge of the author of the poem and the historical context in which it is situated, this information would not be known, for the poem itself makes no direct reference to Lincoln or the "prize" which he sought -- namely, the preservation of the Union and the abolishment of slavery. But Whitman's background allows us to realize just who the "captain" refers to -- a Father of the Nation, Abraham Lincoln.
The theme of Fatherhood is picked up in the second stanza, as Whitman, realizing that his "captain" is dead, calls upon his soul to "rise up and hear the bells" (9). "Here Captain! dear father!" he calls (13), giving the leader of the Union an affectionate term of address, one that is intimate and familial. Whitman balances the diction of the officer (referring to his captain) with the diction of the son (referring to his father), thus equating Lincoln to both a general and a sire. In this respect, the "Captain" takes on a majestic aspect -- a kind of king who has looked after his subjects, his officers as his own sons. Yet, Fatherhood does not die with the "captain," for Whitman calls out still: "Rise up -- for you the flag is flung -- for you the bugle trills" (10). While these lines may seem to be addressed to the dead captain, one might argue that they are also addressed to the citizens of America too -- a nation now turned inward, viewing itself as it is mortally wounded (both…