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O Captain! My Captain!
by
Walt Whitman
Home
Poetry
O Captain! My Captain!
Analysis
Symbols, Imagery, Wordplay
Intro
The Poem
Summary
Analysis
Themes
Quotes
Study Questions
Best of the Web
How to Read a Poem
Symbolism, Imagery, Wordplay
Ship
Captain
Masses
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Table of Contents
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O Captain! My Captain! Symbolism, Imagery & Wordplay
There’s more to a poem than meets the eye.
Ship
Whitman’s uses the ship in “O Captain! My Captain!” to represent the voyage of the United States as a whole. We learn that this was no pleasure cruise, either. The ship stands in for the nati...
Captain
Since this poem was written to mourn the death of Lincoln, we can assume that the captain of the ship is none other than the man who was in charge. The head honcho. The big cheese. The guy who was...
Masses
Whitman just loved teeming masses. He was cuckoo for crowds. Throughout his poetry, he celebrates the throngs of Manhattan just as much as he does the lone traveler. In “O Captain! My Captain!,...
