1. Summarize the message of this poem.
2. What is the major points or ideas are made? List some
3. What persuasive appeals or strategies does this author use to make his or her point?
4. What do we know about how this poem was originally spoken (was it intended to be read aloud?
5. What is the tone of this text, and how do you know?
6. Why is this poem significant or memorable? (Hint: think about its legacy and/or historical context.)
7. How should a text like this be spoken? (be specific as possible about things like volume, speed, pauses, facial expressions, body language, etc.)
Also read: A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Library of Congress
Lyrical Legacy
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
by walt whitman
I.
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.
II.
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 wreaths for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning.
O Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your
head
;
It is some dream that on the deck
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
III.
My captain does not answer, hi
s lips are pale and still
My father does not feel my arm,
he has no pulse nor will.
The ship is 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
silent
tread,
Walk the spot my captain lies
Fallen cold and dead.
More resources: O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN STANZA 2