still being analysed by students in many universities around the world. There may also be some who may have been inspired greatly by the ‘Captain’ in this poem. This ‘inscribed reader’ is, in my opinion, the most important element for this text. The existence of such a reader depicts how effective the author’s intent was; that is the success of the author. FORM
The form of a text influences the way it is interpreted to a large extent. As I had mentioned before, Whitman is considered to be the father of the free verse. If one were to read ‘A noiseless patient spider’ and ‘A child said, What is the grass?’ he/she would notice that these poems (by Whitman) had no rhyme scheme or metre patterns. ‘O captain’ on the other hand, evidently has …show more content…
This is a common device used by poets to make the absence of order more obvious. In this case the reader is supposed to relate this absence of order with the absence of the president.
Another important feature about the poem is the use of the amphibrach in the chorus. In an amphibrach there are three syllables with the accented syllable in between two unaccented ones. Example: “o CAPtain, my CAPtain”. This is used only in the chorus, whereas, everywhere else, it is the usual iambic metre. It has been used to underscore the most important character in the poem- the captain. There are so many changes in the form because the poet does not wish to bore the reader with a monotonous …show more content…
The entire poem itself is an extended metaphor. The poem begins with an apostrophe, when the sailor addresses the dead captain. This shows the poet finds it hard to believe that the captain had died. The use of ‘bleeding drops of red’ is an allusion to Lincoln who died of a bloody wound. He uses the ‘shore’ as a synecdoche to represent the population of America. Ship, shore and harbour are also allegories; their literary meaning is not important, it is the abstract concept they convey, that helps us to interpret the text. The poet also uses a lot of visual imagery when he describes the ship’s arrival after battle and the people celebrating on the shores. For me, the most striking imagery was when he described the dead captain at the end of the second stanza and the beginning of the 3rd stanza. Again, the use of ‘father’ is a symbol for the intimate affection the people and especially Walt Whitman had for Lincoln. Also, the phrase ‘MY Captain’ instead of ‘OUR Captain’ shows the personal relationship the narrator had for the captain. Another important point is that the captain died on the deck of the ship while he was still in command. This is analogous to the fact that Lincoln died when he was still president of the
The form of a text influences the way it is interpreted to a large extent. As I had mentioned before, Whitman is considered to be the father of the free verse. If one were to read ‘A noiseless patient spider’ and ‘A child said, What is the grass?’ he/she would notice that these poems (by Whitman) had no rhyme scheme or metre patterns. ‘O captain’ on the other hand, evidently has …show more content…
This is a common device used by poets to make the absence of order more obvious. In this case the reader is supposed to relate this absence of order with the absence of the president.
Another important feature about the poem is the use of the amphibrach in the chorus. In an amphibrach there are three syllables with the accented syllable in between two unaccented ones. Example: “o CAPtain, my CAPtain”. This is used only in the chorus, whereas, everywhere else, it is the usual iambic metre. It has been used to underscore the most important character in the poem- the captain. There are so many changes in the form because the poet does not wish to bore the reader with a monotonous …show more content…
The entire poem itself is an extended metaphor. The poem begins with an apostrophe, when the sailor addresses the dead captain. This shows the poet finds it hard to believe that the captain had died. The use of ‘bleeding drops of red’ is an allusion to Lincoln who died of a bloody wound. He uses the ‘shore’ as a synecdoche to represent the population of America. Ship, shore and harbour are also allegories; their literary meaning is not important, it is the abstract concept they convey, that helps us to interpret the text. The poet also uses a lot of visual imagery when he describes the ship’s arrival after battle and the people celebrating on the shores. For me, the most striking imagery was when he described the dead captain at the end of the second stanza and the beginning of the 3rd stanza. Again, the use of ‘father’ is a symbol for the intimate affection the people and especially Walt Whitman had for Lincoln. Also, the phrase ‘MY Captain’ instead of ‘OUR Captain’ shows the personal relationship the narrator had for the captain. Another important point is that the captain died on the deck of the ship while he was still in command. This is analogous to the fact that Lincoln died when he was still president of the