Walt Whitman, O Captain! My Captain! - American Poetry - 500 AP English Literature Questions to know by test day

500 AP English Literature Questions to know by test day

CHAPTER 2. American Poetry

 

Passage 4. Walt Whitman, “O Captain! My Captain!”

 

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done!

The ship has weathered every wrack, 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!

Leave you not the little spot

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.

 

O Captain! dear father!

This arm I push beneath you.

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.

But the ship, the ship is anchored safe, 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 silent tread,

Walk the spot my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.