The Cultural Significance of 'O Captain!

My
Captain!' in American Literature

By

Ahmed Shaker

UOB, College of Languages, English Department.

Early American Literature

November 6, 2023
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Introduction
The poem “O Captain! My Captain” by Walt Whitman has a unique historical
value. It carries excellent historical implications that take the reader back to the
days of Abraham Lincoln’s days and the American Civil War

Walt Whitman was born in 1819, in Long Island, New York. He was the second
of eight children. Whitman’s father was of English lineage, and his mother was
Dutch. In 1822, the Whitman family moved to Brooklyn. Whitman spent most of
his life in Brooklyn, which grew into a flourishing city during that time.

Early writing efforts by Whitman were mostly conventional. He wrote about

popular trends and contributed sketches about city life. In 1842, he wrote the
temperance novel "Franklin Evans," which depicted the horrors of alcoholism.
Whitman became an editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, but his political views,
which were aligned with the upstart Free Soil Party, eventually got him fired. By
the early 1850s, Whitman was still working for newspapers, but his attention had
turned to poetry.

Whitman published, in 1855, the first edition of "Leaves of Grass." He

considered “Leaves of Grass" as his life’s work. Rather than issuing new books of
poems, he began revising the poems and adding new ones in the following
editions.
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Historical context

The American Civil War

Throughout the 19th century, Southern officials sought to defend the system of
slavery by holding control of the federal government. While they benefited from
most presidents being from the South, they were worried about retaining a balance
of power inside the Senate. As new states were added to the Union, several
conciliations were reached to maintain a balanced number of free and pro-slavery
states. The balance was finally interrupted in 1850 when Southerners allowed
California to enter as a free state in exchange for laws firming slavery such as the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. (Hickman, 2019)

By 1860 the tension between northern and southern states had grown so strong
that when Abraham Lincoln was elected as president South Carolina became the
first state to leave the Union and form its entity. Ten more states would follow with
secession: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia,
Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. On February 9, 1861, the Confederate
States of America was formed with Jefferson Davis as its president marking the
start of the civil war.

The Civil War lasted from 1861 until 1865. During this time, over 600,000
soldiers who fought for each side died either by battle deaths or disease. Many,
many more were wounded. The North and the South respectively experienced
major victories and defeats. However, in 1864 with the victory in Atlanta, the
North gained the upper hand and the war officially ended on April 9, 1865. (Kelly,
2020)
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Walt Whitman's Role as a Poet during the Civil War

During the Civil War, Whitman’s brother George was recruited into a New York
infantry squadron. In 1862, Whitman, believing his brother may have been injured
at the Battle of Fredericksburg, traveled to the front in Virginia.

The war's miserable situation, and especially the wounded had a deep effect on
Whitman. He became extremely interested in helping injured soldiers and began
volunteering in military hospitals in Washington. His war service inspired him to
write several Civil War poems.

Despite that Whitman thought slavery was against the ideals of a free society, he
feared that a war over such matter would damage American democracy. Once the
American Civil War broke out, Whitman immediately joined the war effort as a
writer, poet, and medic. (Killingsworth, 2007, 8-10)

Whitman was an admirer of Abraham Lincoln and supported his vision for
America, mourning him intensely when he was assassinated just a few days after
the end of the Civil War. He wrote a series of poems praising Lincoln, including
the most famous poem "O Captain! My Captain!"

(Killingsworth, 2007, 63-64)

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'O Captain! My Captain!' Cultural Depiction

Greif and Victory

The poem rejoices at the end of the Civil War, but it is also an elegy for
President Abraham Lincoln. Victory and loss are closely entangled throughout the
poem. On the one hand, grief is mitigated with joyful reminders that the war is
over and won. Its celebrations, on the other hand, are haunted by sadness. In this
sense, Whitman’s style captures the pain and trauma of loss in war—as well as the
impossibility of ever separating the victory from its human costs.

“O Captain! My Captain!” uses juxtaposing poetic techniques to describe the

relationship between victory and grief. At first, it seems as if the poem celebrates
the triumph of the Union in the Civil War. The speaker praises President Lincoln
for steering the metaphorical ship of state through “every wrack,” and states “The
prize we sought is won.” However, halfway through this triumphant first stanza,
the speaker halts off: “But O heart! heart! heart! ... my Captain lies, / Fallen cold
and dead.” The sudden change of tone reveals to the reader that not all is well. The
poem barely has time to celebrate victory before facing loss.

Whitman emphasizes President Lincoln's primary role in this victory with the
repetition of the word “you”—“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,” yet President Lincoln is not there to see the triumph.

Whitman dramatizes the painful relationship between grief and victory. The
celebration of the Union’s victory is haunted by the price paid to achieve this
victory. Whitman argues that loss and victory are linked in all wartime scenarios,
where triumph always requires the spending of human life. (Houghton, 2019)
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Individuality vs. Nation

“O Captain! O Captain!” depicts the trauma that followed one of the most
infamous political assassinations in America’s history, the killing of President
Abraham Lincoln. Simultaneously, it suggests that the nation will eventually move
on after the death of its leader. In doing so, the poem questions the connection
between the individual and the community, suggesting that America as a nation
can and must surpass the life of any single person despite though individuals are
still very important.

The poem matches President Lincoln as a captain navigating the “ship of state”
guiding the Union through the Civil War. Captain Lincoln seems the main factor
for the well-being of the ship after it has “weather’d every rack” However, the
“captain” turns out to be less essential than it seems regarding the nation's ability to
overcome challenges. Whitman refers to the voyage as “our fearful trip,” indicating
that the nation has survived these challenges by banding together and taking shared
responsibility.

This concept of individuality vs. nation extends even while the “Captain lies/
Fallen cold and dead,” the people celebrate victory with bugles, bells, and public
commemorations. Their grief at the assassination of the president does not stop
them from continuing their celebrations and moving on with life. The people do
not seem to need the physical presence of President Lincoln to celebrate.

While the nation accomplishes victory and moves forward without President
Lincoln, Whitman cannot quite join in the celebrations—the death of his leader is
still tormenting him, even though the nation has survived

“But I with mournful tread”

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“Walk the deck my Captain lies”

Ultimately, the poem argues that collective effort is necessary for the survival of
the nation, but it also acknowledges that individual people play crucial roles within
this collective effort. (Houghton, 2019)

Influence of the Poem on Popular Modern Culture

When Robin Williams in 2014 the world looked, back on his most iconic roles.
His performance as John Keating, an influential and empowering high school
teacher, in 1989's "Dead Poets Society" stood out among the rest.

The scene in which his students recite "O Captain! My Captain," a tribute to
Walt Whitman's poem, has become a permanent part of pop culture. It is an
onscreen moment that honors Williams as a fictional teacher and a metaphorical
one to the young actors in the movie. After Williams' death, fans and actors
recalled the scene, citing lines from the poem and "Dead Poets Society" in general

The poem has been referenced in numerous songs, including "O Captain! My
Captain!" by Weakerthans, “Captain Crash, and the Beauty Queen from Mars" by
Bon Jovi. The poem also used in films such as "The Fisher King" and "The Perks of
Being a Wallflower" (Goodman, 2014)
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Conclusion

“O Captain!” Quickly became one of Whitman’s best-known and most widely

read poems with its regular stanza form, and easily recognizable metaphors. It is
one of the best examples of Whitman’s tendency to write more conventionally for
the periodical audience.

The poem depicts an era of civil unrest, war, and chaos. The concept of
collective unity is vital to the survival of the “ship” that carries the nation's future
on its deck, and to achieve such unity, the captain's burden is to navigate towards
safe lands.

Whitman created a simple but timeless piece with universal themes of leadership,
cost of victory, isolation, and sadness that is relatable to the present-day wars
where people, soldiers, and leaders alike, lose their lives to achieve victory, yet on
their bodies celebrations arise. That sacrifice is the unavoidable aspect of victory.

He contrasts by transposing the images of the cheerful crowd next to the lifeless
body of the captain. This concoction of emotions resembles the nature of life.
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References

Goodman, J. (2014). Robin Williams and the “O Captain” Scene That Inspired a
Generation. HuffPost.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/robin-williams-o-captain_n_5670177

Hickman, K. (2019). What Caused the Civil War. ThoughtCo.

https://www.thoughtco.com/american-civil-war-causes-of-conflict-2360891

Houghton, E. (2019). O Captain! My Captain! Poem Critical Analysis. LitCharts.

Kelly, M. (2020). Secession and the American Civil War. ThoughtCo.

https://www.thoughtco.com/overview-american-civil-war-secession-104533

M. Jimmie Killingsworth. (2007). The Cambridge Introduction to Walt Whitman.

Cambridge University Press.