Imagery

In this section, we analyze the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman for its language and other important stylistic devices.

Generally, a vivid kind of language that makes the text come alive to us is created through several adjectives, adverbs, and verbs used to depict mostly the captain and the setting: “bleeding drops of red” (l. 6), “pale and still” (l. 17), “grim and daring” (l. 4), “swaying mass”, “eager faces” (l. 12).

Allusion

The whole poem is, in fact, an allusion to the assassination of the American president, Abraham Lincoln. The poet uses the metaphor of a captain and his ship to refer to Lincoln and his country. He talks of a victory, which is also an allusion to Lincoln winning the Civil War.

Apostrophe

The speaker addresses things that cannot answer him back, such as the ‘heart” (l. 5) or...