Walt Whitman’s Poem “O Captain! My Captain!” Laments the Death of Abraham Lincoln

Writer, poet, and journalist Walt Whitman wrote several poems about the Civil War, which were compiled into two volumes called Drum-Taps, and Sequel to Drum-Taps,  both

Walt Whitman by Matthew Brady

published in 1865. He became personally involved in the war effort, moving to Washington DC and serving as a nurse and offering comfort to wounded soldiers in a military hospital. The wounded included his brother George. Whitman wrote a poem called The Wound Dresser, which grimly describes the scene in a military hospital.

Whitman’s most famous Civil War poem is probably O Captain! My Captain! Though he is not mentioned by name, the poem is about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Whitman compares Lincoln to the captain of a ship who dies just as he has completed his voyage.

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 daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

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,
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
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,
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.

Assassination of President Lincoln by Currier & Ives