Literary Analysis
Close Reading
Week 8
On pg. 465 the last poem in Walt Whitman's collection was very interesting to me. Most of his poems left me puzzled a little just trying to follow the topic of the poem. However this last poem "O Captain! My Captain" grabbed my attention because it was clear and towards the beginning the poem rhymed which was pleasing for me as a reader. And after rhyming for a while Whitman began painting a picture of the ship these sailors where aboard and how the Captain was dead. Ironically the trip they went on as a crew was difficult, prolonged, and the Captain dies right when the ship arrives to shore. "he has no pulse nor will, The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done"pg. 465. Even after going through so much on their voyage the Captain was dead and the unnamed character narrating is heart broken that the Captain is no longer with him. "But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead". This crew member was close to the Captain and was not taking his death well. Reading this poem felt more like a homage monologue for the Captain explaining their voyage and the way their dead Captain looked. This poem also was very interesting to me because it has my name is incorporated in one of the stanzas "From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won". My name means winner so their ship was the victor and after all of there travels and victory their Captain dies at the home stretch. The imagery and descriptiveness of this section of writing make reading this easy and it could also have a different meaning. This voyage and Captain could be a symbolic meaning for something different like something meaningful to Whitman and is letting his readers interpret their own meaning of his poem. After reading this I looked at the very bottom of the page and it say's that this was paying respect to Whitman's favorite public figure Abraham Lincoln who was assassinated. Making a huge connection to my last point of Whitman having a different meaning for this poem. And honestly writing this close reading I looked back at the poem and is the only reason I saw the note on the bottom telling who the Captain signified.
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