Analysis Of O Captain My Captain

Emilio Mackie Mr. Webb English 11, Period 1 3-17-2015 O Captain My Captain Walt Whitman wrote the poem O Captain My Captain to honor the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. When the poem was published in the New York Saturday Press, the American public loved it. It became a national sensation overnight. Walt Whitman was asked to recite the poem so often, that he once said, “I’m almost sorry I ever wrote [it]” (Library of Congress) But this poem is not to be taken lightly. It speaks of a story about a captain, who returns with his crew after a hard voyage, only to lie in his deathbed in the end.

My Captain! and it was published in 1891. This poem is about a man whose captain or ‘father figure’ has fallen dead without warning. They’ve been through alot together and they finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and just when he thinks the bad things are over, it gets worse. Many people relate this poem to Walt’s feelings towards Abraham Lincoln.

Whitman mentions a “ship”, which is the Union in the Civil War. He also uses the “voyage” to symbolize the Civil War. The overall mood of this elegy to Lincoln is grievance for the lost loved one of Whitman. He had a deep reverence for the President and it was a great pain for him when Lincoln was assassinated (Whitman 63). Another poem that Whitman wrote, that is famous for its grievance of the fallen Presi... ... middle of paper ... ...d have to be close with those around you.

Owen was an officer and often had to send men to their deaths and 'Dulce´ gives a personal account of what the war was like. Many patriotic poems had been written at the time. Owen knew that they lied.. Tennyson´s poem is a celebration of the bravery of the six hundred British troops who went into battle against all odds, even though the... ... middle of paper ... ...sores on innocent tongues´. During the man´s death it is as if you are reliving his torture. Owen gives us a detailed picture of the war: he talks in the first person, 'I saw him drowning´, and describes one dying man, in contrast to Tennyson´s rather impersonal 'six hundred´.

However, the feeling that one gets from each of them is different. The death in the poem is a very tragic and demoralizing but in the photograph the soldiers who have been killed seem to be happy now that they no longer serving in someone else’s war. The first stanza of the poem, “Dulce Et Decorum Est”, helps to set the scene; it tells of soldiers who are beaten down and in horrible condition. They are limping back from the front lines of the war. Owen paints a terrifying picture of these tired and wounded soldiers.

Both poems are similar however they tell there stories in different ways. “The Charge of the Light Brigade” is in relation to the deaths of many soldiers, and the unexpected experience of war. Lord Tennyson looks at the superior side of war and celebrates the beauty of war, although not knowing, the war had blundered and six hundred soldiers were now dead. “Dulce et Decorum Est” showing an anti-war side, the poem was originally entitled to Jessie Pope. It shows a tone through out the poem of depression, sadness Owen gets his message across very rapidly and makes the reader feel like they had just experienced the war in the few minutes of reading ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ this is done from the metaphors and magnificent imagery used to show a terrible side of war.

According to the Encyclopedia of World Biography it says, “Although the poem describes the senseless horrors of war, its title ironically evokes a Latin quotation from Horace: "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," or "Sweet and decorous it is to die for one 's country. "” When he suffered a concussion from a fall and later was diagnosed with shell shock and trench fever, he went back home to England for further care. His own impression of the war reveals to be bitter since he struggled a lot and was injured severely. In that time he was recovering, Owen met “Siegfried Sassoon, an army captain and an established poet who wrote passionately of his

Whitman uses metaphors and symbolism throughout that tie to his life and his feelings as well as the poem. Lincoln was idolized in Walt’s eyes. In the poem he refers to him as “Father” because he is the father of his nation. The writer was very good at incorporating subtle symbolism but at the same making his meaning crystal clear to the reader. This poem is an extended metaphor; the fallen captain the writer mentions is Abraham Lincoln.

From the very beginning of the play, Hamlet is seen as being a person who is very conscious of mortality. The first time that we see him, he is mourning the recent death of his father and dressed in, as he refers to it, an “inky cloak” (1.2.77). Claudius and Gertrude are both trying to talk some sense into him by telling him that people lose fathers all the time and that he is no different from anyone else in the world. Gertrude asks him why he “seems” so sad, and he quickly replies that he doesn’t just “seem” sad, but that he really is sad and grieving for his lost father. Claudius tells him that “obstinate condolement is a course of impious stubbornness.

This affected his view of death and he wrote about it in his poetry. When one reads "A Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night" they can see the immense pain that not only the soldiers felt, but also Whitman. In this poem Whitman is describing his experiences with the soldiers during th... ... middle of paper ... ... The Night in silence under many a star, The ocean shore and the husky whispering wave whose voice I know, And the soul turning to thee O vast and well-veil'd death, And the body gratefully nestling close to thee. (155-159) Here Whitman seems to be celebrating death.