The Civil War between the North and the South
lasted from 1861-1865. Abraham Lincoln was
President of the United States at the time, and it
was largely due to his wisdom that the great
conflict lasted no longer. The Northern armies were
generally victorious in the winter and spring of
1865. The nation, however, was suddenly bowed in
grief. The President was shot by an assassin on
April 14, and died next day.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) at the time was employed
in a clerical position in the War Department, and,
outside office hours, in nursing wounded soldiers
in Washington. He often saw Lincoln, who passed
Whitman's house almost every day. The "Good Gray
Poet" and the President had a bowing acquaintance;
and in one of his books Whitman refers to the
dark-brown face, deep-cut lines, and sad eyes of
Lincoln. Whitman gave expression to his grief at
the country's loss in the following poem, in which
he refers to the martyred President as the captain
of the Ship of State.
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we
sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and 5
daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead. 10
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle
trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths--for you the
shores a-crowding. 5
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces
turning.
Here, Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck 10
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and
done, 15
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead. 20
--_Drum Taps._
1. Explain the references to the safe arrival of
the ship in port, the ringing of the bells, and the
general exultation.
2. Re-read the poem carefully. Picture to yourself
what each stanza contributes as you read. When you
have finished, test yourself to see how much of it
you can recall exactly. Complete the memorization
by this same process of careful re-reading.
3. Whitman had his volume, _Drum Taps_, practically
completed when Lincoln's assassination occurred. He
held up its publication to include "O Captain! My
Captain" and another poem on the death of Lincoln,
called "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed."
Why is the title of the latter poem appropriate?