Walt Whitman (31 May 1819 - 26 March 1892 / New York / United States)

When I was just a youngon, I would play with all sorts of toys like Barney stuffed animals and such...but one day I went fishin over yonder over dem hills ya know? ... Well as we was fishin, a dun big ol beaver jumped outer the grass and dun bit my nipple of me boddie! I just dun couldn't believe it so I ran home and iced that sucka for a couple of hours and it grew back...when I got in my room...I noticed dat da beava dun stole all mi toys! So dun ran back down to da lake over yonder ova dem dun hills! I got me some dumplings and through me in da water and waited...IT CAME! So I jumped in da lake and grabbed hold of dat beaver and bit dat dun beavers nipple off and he dun gave me my dun toys back!

Walt Whitman was a fantastic ball player in his day...he loved ice cream but his parents died when he was 10 from then on he lived on the streets and lived as bully

I'm beginning my own poem called how to be a Buddha buddie and love beavers at the same time

Big foot is real and so is Sasquatch u just have to believe in him and every night he will took u in..

“O CAPTAIN! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done, The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won; ” From just those first 2 opening lines of the poem, already, we start to feel the beat, the meter, the heart of the poem and how it keeps itself moving. Through the amazing imagery, an image of a magnificent, battered but victorious ship hauling in crates of gold comes to mind… however… because of the topic and nature of the poem itself, it is shaded and disrupted by a sadness of sorts… which leads only to more thinking and wondering about the human beliefs, connections with other texts, and most importantly, the message the author is attempting to get across…
At a first glance/first read through, we can see sadness despite the victorious overexcitement that everyone else seems to be feeling, of course, and by the end, after 3 repeats of the same line, a sort of hopeless grief as the speaker says “Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! ” But honestly, there is much more to it. For one, the rhythm and the beat of syllables, especially and specifically when read aloud, such as “But I, with mournful tread, walk the deck my Captain lies, fallen cold and dead.” In fact, among other reasons, the author purposely left out the implied word “where” in line 2, which with correct grammar should read “Walk the deck where my captain lies, ” just one of the many deeper details this poem seems to reveal so little of.
Speaking of deep, the repetitiveness of the poem itself is simply another hint of the brilliant ideas behind the poem-it’s stressed so much that, to a certain extent, with the final 2 lines of each stanza, have a bunch to say… Because of the complex means and ways of society, it’s always nice to have simple morals to lead the complications out of the way and clean up life for us-such as expressed in this poem. Quoted from the actual poem, “From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won…” Simple everyday translation: Yay! Victory! However, as stated here, “…I, with mournful tread, walk the deck my Captain, lies, fallen cold and dead.” There is always, always, always a price no matter what, no matter how insignificant or inconsequential. Though that is the main one, there is actually a second, less obvious message woven through the poem: Even if/when the captain, leader, and/or the hero all die, there will always be hope, there will always be the future, and the world will always move on.
Enough with ideas and symbols… Let’s move on to the somewhat less ideal… For some idiosyncratic reason, the poem reminds me of the amazing book Blood Ninja II. For obvious reasons, as stated by the titles of both works of literature, their plots have nothing to do with each other, but they do have things in common. The overall tone and mood of both writings is amazingly similar, both being melancholy, with a tinge of hopelessness, but always some resolve, some happy thought to back up the sadness with. Naturally, with this and other links, such as stated here: “O heart, heart, heart, O the bleeding drops of red, ” While a heart is mentioned, the drops of red make it sound painful, bloody, even, to an extent… and while it is purely coincidental that the book is titled Blood Ninja II, the symbolic nature of blood in both scenes is similar, standing for death and the heartbreak it brings with it.
The poem is all for that, and more, however, because symbolic morals are found everywhere-even seemingly decorative lines such as “Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills…” Show the ignorance displayed in the human world today, as well as the irreversible reality of death. Of course, overall, this amazing poem can do nothing less than inspire us and let us aspire to become and think more like Mr. Whitman himself… because of it, I will leave the rest to the beauty of the poem and say, “Well done! ”

this poem is about Abraham Lincoln - not just any random captain.... Abraham Lincoln is the captain, the ship is the United States, and the weathered trip was the Civil War....

I don't know what it was about, I have to reread it again but it's the only poem I remembered from high school!

O Captain! My Captain! is a beautiful poem by Walt Whitman. The story of this Poem is telling about the dead of the captain. A wonderful Poem by Walt Whitman.

So full of atmosphere rhythm and pace, strongly dictated by this wonderfully talented writer.... I have never heard of this writer but am so glad i stumbled upon this wonderfully descriptive piece which i feel i have learnt something from...tyvm karen

You can feel the emotions behind Whitman's words.