Extended Metaphors In Walt Whitman's O Captain !
“Quote about America being great” - the supposed utopian history of United
States. Unfortunately, America, just like any other country, has experienced numerous tribulations on its course to greatness, as figuratively presented in Walt Whitman’s extended metaphor poem, O Captain! My Captain!. In this elegiac, a sailor recalls the joyous celebrations of the people on shore, exulting over his crew’s safe return. However, to his horrid surprise, the beloved, father-like captain, lies “Fallen cold and dead”, suppressing the cheers of the people on the port. Thus, through the use of metaphors and symbolization to establish an extended metaphor, Whitman portrays his admiration and praise towards Abraham Lincoln’s brilliance and his monumental accomplishments, …show more content…
In the very beginning of the poem, Whitman refers to Lincoln in a very personal, connected way by using an apostrophe and specific word choice, calling him “O Captain! my Captain!”. Similarly, he continuously address him by the title of “dear father!”, emphasizing how the loss of Abraham Lincoln was not only a political loss, but rather a personal one. He even implies the effects of Lincoln in that he brought the United States from a port of disaster and chaos, through ___” to a single united family with him as the father. Furthermore, Whitman creatively uses rhymes to express solemness and grief of the war and Lincoln’s death. Its lack of a definitive rhyme scheme and slant rhyme, prove the saddening effects of the civil war in a illusive way. Likewise, the mere and organization of the lines and stanzas epitomize the despair the sailor faces for loss of his captain. As the poem begins to describe the sailors anguish in each stanza, examples, the lines become shorter, choppier, and simpler, as though his grief is responsible for the delayed flow of the lines. Even the meter of the poem serves the purpose of creating a rigid war scene. The almost regular,consistent use of the iambic meter, as in is “our fearful trip is done” (line1), is suggestive of a soldier marching across the battlefield, an allusion ideal for a poem involving the civil war. As a
States. Unfortunately, America, just like any other country, has experienced numerous tribulations on its course to greatness, as figuratively presented in Walt Whitman’s extended metaphor poem, O Captain! My Captain!. In this elegiac, a sailor recalls the joyous celebrations of the people on shore, exulting over his crew’s safe return. However, to his horrid surprise, the beloved, father-like captain, lies “Fallen cold and dead”, suppressing the cheers of the people on the port. Thus, through the use of metaphors and symbolization to establish an extended metaphor, Whitman portrays his admiration and praise towards Abraham Lincoln’s brilliance and his monumental accomplishments, …show more content…
In the very beginning of the poem, Whitman refers to Lincoln in a very personal, connected way by using an apostrophe and specific word choice, calling him “O Captain! my Captain!”. Similarly, he continuously address him by the title of “dear father!”, emphasizing how the loss of Abraham Lincoln was not only a political loss, but rather a personal one. He even implies the effects of Lincoln in that he brought the United States from a port of disaster and chaos, through ___” to a single united family with him as the father. Furthermore, Whitman creatively uses rhymes to express solemness and grief of the war and Lincoln’s death. Its lack of a definitive rhyme scheme and slant rhyme, prove the saddening effects of the civil war in a illusive way. Likewise, the mere and organization of the lines and stanzas epitomize the despair the sailor faces for loss of his captain. As the poem begins to describe the sailors anguish in each stanza, examples, the lines become shorter, choppier, and simpler, as though his grief is responsible for the delayed flow of the lines. Even the meter of the poem serves the purpose of creating a rigid war scene. The almost regular,consistent use of the iambic meter, as in is “our fearful trip is done” (line1), is suggestive of a soldier marching across the battlefield, an allusion ideal for a poem involving the civil war. As a