“O Captain! My Captain!” is an elegy written by Walt Whitman in 1865 to commemorate the death of President Abraham Lincoln. It was first published in Sequel to Drum-Taps (1865), a collection of Whitman’s poems inspired by the events of the American Civil War. The poem is perhaps Whitman’s most famous—which is ironic, since it is far more conventional in meter, form, and subject than much of Whitman’s other work. Although some critics have suggested that Whitman regretted ever writing “O Captain! My Captain!” it undeniably captured the mood of a nation in mourning and has remained one of Whitman’s best-loved and most-quoted poems.
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The Full Text of “O Captain! My Captain!”
1O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
2The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
3The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
4While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
5 But O heart! heart! heart!
6 O the bleeding drops of red,
7 Where on the deck my Captain lies,
8 Fallen cold and dead.
9O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
10Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
11For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
12For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
13 Here Captain! dear father!
14 This arm beneath your head!
15 It is some dream that on the deck,
16 You’ve fallen cold and dead.
17My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
18My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
19The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
20From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
21 Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
22 But I with mournful tread,
23 Walk the deck my Captain lies,
24 Fallen cold and dead.
The Full Text of “O Captain! My Captain!”
1O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
2The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
3The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
4While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
5 But O heart! heart! heart!
6 O the bleeding drops of red,
7 Where on the deck my Captain lies,
8 Fallen cold and dead.
9O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
10Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
11For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
12For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
13 Here Captain! dear father!
14 This arm beneath your head!
15 It is some dream that on the deck,
16 You’ve fallen cold and dead.
17My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
18My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
19The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
20From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
21 Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
22 But I with mournful tread,
23 Walk the deck my Captain lies,
24 Fallen cold and dead.
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“O Captain! My Captain!” Summary
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“O Captain! My Captain!” Themes
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Victory and Loss
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Grief and Isolation
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The Individual vs. the Nation
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “O Captain! My Captain!”
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Lines 1-4
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; -
Line 6
O the bleeding drops of red,
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Lines 9-12
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; -
Lines 13-18
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, -
Lines 19-24
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.
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“O Captain! My Captain!” Symbols
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The Ship
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“O Captain! My Captain!” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Extended Metaphor
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Alliteration
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Epistrophe
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Apostrophe
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Caesura
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Anaphora
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End-Stopped Line
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Personification
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Epizeuxis
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Irony
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Juxtaposition
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Consonance
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“O Captain! My Captain!” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Fearful
- Rack
- Exult
- Keel
- Bugle
- Object
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “O Captain! My Captain!”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“O Captain! My Captain!” Speaker
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“O Captain! My Captain!” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “O Captain! My Captain!”
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More “O Captain! My Captain!” Resources
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External Resources
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Whitman Out Loud — For audio recordings of the poem, check out the free downloadable selection from LibriVox.
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Poetry and the Mediation of Value: Whitman on Lincoln — This is the text of a lecture by Professor Helen Vendler, a famous authority on American and British poetry. Although it is an academic lecture, it is written in an accessible style.
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Two Worlds of Mourning: Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln’s Death — This resource from the National Portrait Gallery dives in to the relationship between Walt Whitman and the subject of his elegy, President Abraham Lincoln.
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Clip from Dead Poets Society — "O Captain! My Captain!" remains a staple of the American school curriculum and appears frequently in popular culture. Watch a famous scene from the film Dead Poets Society in which students recite the beginning of the poem for their teacher, played by Robin Williams.
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Encyclopedia.com Entry on "O Captain! My Captain!" — An extensive introduction to the poem and its context. The "Critical Overview" section is particularly comprehensive, including excerpts from the work of several prominent critics.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Walt Whitman
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