It's time again to reminisce on those high school days when I got to know unforgettable literary works, especially in American Literature. There were a lot of them, but on poems, one stood out.

O Captain! My Captain! was written by the great American poet, Walt Whitman in 1865.

The poem is a meditation on the death of President Abraham Lincoln. Whitman was immensely moved by President Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865. Though pleased with the outcome of the Civil War, Whitman was despondent over the death of Abraham Lincoln, considered one of the greatest presidents of the United States of America.

Lincoln fought a war (the American Civil War) against the Southern States to give the Negro slaves freedom and human dignity. The war was won, the slaves were freed, but Lincoln, soon after his election as president for a second term, fell a victim to an assassin’s bullet.

Lincoln was watching a play at Ford's Theater, Washington DC, on April 14, 1865. Shortly after 10:00 PM, actor John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box and fatally shot the president.

In the poem, Lincoln is conceived as the brave captain of a ship who falls dead on the deck just when the journey is over and the victory is won. The speaker in the poem delivers the message to the captain and declares that their fearful and dangerous trip is done.

Their ship had withstood every destructive encounter and their prized reward, that they longed for, is won. Their weary ship is drawing near the sea-port, the church bells are ringing to celebrate a victory and the people are rejoicing. Yet in the midst the celebration, the poet sees that in the vessel, his captain is lying cold and dead.

Whitman pleads desperately to the captain to get up from his bed and see that the people are flying the flag just for him. The people are blowing their trumpets and bugles and are waiting to present him with bunches of flowers and decorated garlands to honour him-the victor.

The seashores are swaying with crowds of cheering people. All the faces of the people on the shore are eager to see the captain addressing them from the deck. Yet the captain, the father to all people of the nation slept still and cold with his arm beneath his head. It is like an unbelievable bad dream that the leader is dead at the moment of victory.

Whitman, in order to ensure the effect of tragedy of Lincoln’s death in the perspective of the nation’s crisis, brings up the sustained metaphor of the ship and its voyages, and executes the story allegorically. He (Whitman) portrays the nation as the ship, and the Civil War as the perilous voyage. The end of the War is depicted as the end of the journey.

The people standing on the shore with flags and ribboned wreaths are the eager and exultant people of the country who feel safe and victorious. Death, in the poem comes with a dramatic suddenness. When everybody is agog with positive expectations, the Captain falls dead on the ship, which is only a few yard away from the shore.

Thus all the victory celebrations and welcome ovations get immediately transformed into a muted and heart rending funeral of the dead leader. The loneliness, the pathetic cry of disbelief and the passionate refusal to accept Lincoln’s death is an experience, which Whitman shared with millions of countrymen.

“O Captain! My Captain!” as an Elegy: This poem is written in the form of an elegy meaning a funeral song. Whitman used very strong figurative language throughout the poem to express his respect and to mourn the loss of Abraham Lincoln. The expression of mourning and grief mark the center of the poem. However, what stays in the mind of the readers is the speaker’s passionate expression of his love for his dead captain.

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