Journey Theme in Whitman’s O Captain! My Captain! and Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar

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Journey Theme in Whitman’s O Captain! My Captain! and Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar

The theme of a journey is a common metaphor used in poetry. This is no exception in two poems by famous poets of the 19th century: Walt Whitman and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. In Whitman’s poem “O Captain! My Captain!” from his collection Leaves of Grass, he writes of the sorrow over a fallen ship captain coming into the home harbor. Lord Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar” expresses the hopes on the departure of a journey. Both poems use the metaphor of a boat’s trip over the sea as a spiritual journey to death. The poems have many similarities, but also differences that give character to each poem. Each poem is shaped by its imagery, speaker, and emotional invocation. Without such literary devices, the poems would not have such an emotional impact of the reader.

Both “O Captain! My Captain!” and “Crossing the Bar” are similar in their themes of a journey. In Whitman’s poem, the crew of a ship is returning to their home port from a long journey. All is finished, with the purpose of the expedition completed, except their captain has fallen dead on the deck of the ship. The speaker describes the festivities on the shore as the boat arrives, the joyous townspeople celebrating the return of their captain. This contrasts the sullen mood on the ship, where the crew deeply mourns the loss of their captain. In “Crossing the Bar,” the speaker is about to depart on a journey, one from which he expects not to return. He hopes that his journey will not be difficult, especially when he first sets out. He pleads to the reader not to mourn or protest against his departure. Although these are both journeys, there are key differences. Whitman addresses the mournful return from a voyage, while Lord Tennyson writes of a final exit from a life. While the speaker in “O Captain!” appeals that his captain be not dead, the speaker in “Crossing the Bar!” implores almost the complete opposite. He says in lines 11-12 “And may there be no sadness of farewell,When I embark;” He is content in leaving the life he has known, to go on this final journey to see his “Pilot.

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