Hunter Ratliff English 102 Mrs. Witt 12 February 14 "O Lincoln! My Lincoln!" In Walt Whitman’s “O captain! My captain!” the poet is trying to portray to the reader his respect and adoration for Abraham Lincoln, and the despair of his death. Whitman uses metaphors and symbolism throughout that tie to his life and his feelings as well as the poem.
In Walt Whitman's pastoral elegy, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", he successfully depicts how nature and citizens mourn Abraham Lincoln's death after his assassination in 1865. He flawlessly incorporates numerous poetic devices and methodically places them throughout his literary work. One of the poetic devices that he continues to use is parallelism. Walt Whitman's inclusion of parallelism contributes to the successful style of the poem by adding to the lyrical flow, creating emphasis, and introducing descriptive details. Whitman believes that poetry should be expressed through speaking instead of writing; therefore, he frequently uses parallelism to integrate a melodious and musical quality that ultimately adds to the speaking power of the poem.
He also aided the nation to understand and face the grief they felt after the loss of a respectable and loved authority figure. With O Captain My Captain, Walt Whitman captures the contrasting duality of the times; both triumphant and mournful in nature. Of all of his colorful, imaginative poems this one in particular resonates with me because the poet's heartbreak is so real and apparent in the poem's somber and pleading tone. This poem begins energetically, in the first couplet although it does not introduce you directly to the subject of the poem. What we know is that a ship commanded by an unnamed captain has come back from a voyage, which has apparently been dreadful.
My Captain” from his anthology of poems, Leaves of Grass, he describes the passing of Abraham Lincoln through the use of an extended metaphor. Similarly, “Crossing the Bar,” by Lord Alfred Tennyson, from his collection of poetry, Demeter and Other Poems, alludes to one’s preparation for his or her own death. At times, the two authors utilize similar techniques, employing various figurative language devices such as extended metaphors, diction and format, which all work to highlight their differences in meaning. Through the use of imagery, the authors’ poems invoke various emotions but end up leading to the discussion of two different journeys, one that is elegiac in memory of a historical figure, and the other applicable to all those who are facing death. The two poems share some common characteristics, as both make nautical references and deal with various stages of death.
In “O Captain! My Captain!” Walt Whitman describes the narrator’s sense of aimlessness at sea after his beloved Captain dies. In Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar,” the speaker is beckoned by the sea and its soundlessness even though he senses foredoom there. And so, although both Whitman and Tennyson employ a voyage at sea as the predominant image and metaphor within similar structural frameworks, they do differ in how they represent the journey and depict the tone of the poem. In “O Captain!
Whitman wrote the poem as an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln after he was assassinated. He wrote the poem in honor of Lincoln who fought for America to stay united and fought for the abolishment of slavery through the Civil War. Whitman’s admiration for Lincoln shines through the poem as an overall theme. Whitman shows his gratitude and admiration by often referring to Lincoln as “My father” (Song of Myself). The overall themes throughout the poem “O Capitan!
Walt Whitman is one of the greatest poets in American history. He is an explicitly patriotic writer and believes poetry is a way of healing. His poem, “O Captain! My Captain!”, expresses his grief and the mourning of a nation in the loss of a great leader, President Abraham Lincoln. It became an elegy honoring Lincoln’s life and work, Whitman symbolically uses the image of a Captain to show the admiration, devotion, and love that he and the nation felt for Lincoln.
This work is a great poem to expose readers to exploring the depths of the words written to interpret the hidden messages among them. The true meaning behind this poem was for Whitman to express his admiration for President Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated twenty-one years before it was written. Whitman wanted to pay tribute by creating an ode to the late President. After
By juxtaposing the biblical language with war terminology Owen was able to convey the message that our leaders are selfish and do not have the love for us like Abraham had for his son. What attracted me to this poem was how the poet wrote the poem as an allegory to tell the story of war. This poem is very effective and has many meanings.
The poetic achievement of Ben Jonson’s “On My First Son” can be realised by a consideration of elegy as a poetic form and its emotional appeal, as well as Jonson’s conciseness and vividness of speech. Jonson successfully uses a range of tropological and figurative devices to evoke a sense of empathy and pity, in mourning the loss of his son. In addition, Jonson effectively conveys a Father’s sense of lament through the themes of sin and judgement. Thus it is Jonson’s use of the traditional structure of the elegy, which achieves an autobiographical tone with a range of euphonic sounds and economy of expression. By analysing Jonson’s use of the elegy, this poetic mode of presentation reveals how compression and conciseness fulfil the achievement of “On My First Son”.