Walt Whitman wrote “Oh Captain! My Captain!" to honor Abraham Lincoln after the president was assassinated on April 14, 1865. Lincoln's death inspired Whitman to write one of his most memorable works: a simple three-stanza poem of grief that bore little resemblance to his other writings more experimental. «O Captain! My Captain!.» A poem by Walt Whitman about a captain who dies just as his ship had reached the end of a stormy and dangerous voyage. The captain represents Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated just as the Civil War was ending. Say no to plagiarism measure on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay What attracted me to the poem was the poetic rhyme, seeing how simple yet meaningful the poem is to realize that a man like him would be entitled to a poem about Abraham Lincoln that would one day be remembered. It is touching how they barely knew each other, but how much Abraham Lincoln meant to Walt Whitman who considered him a father figure Only after studying and researching more about the poem and the its true meaning I realized what it really meant, now realize what the poem is about My original thought was that this poem was created in the 18th century before Abraham Lincoln was born. The reasoning behind my idea was that it was about a boat and people applauding it and evaluating it, assuming that they were out and discovered many mysteries and had a successful voyage on that ship. However, when in the poem and the way the writer speaks in the first person leads me to assume that this was also a message about someone he cared a lot about and loved. Poetic devices play an important role in poetry. Repetition is a common poetic device used throughout poetry, an example I Oh Captain! My Captain! This shows that Walt Whitman thinks that Abraham Lincoln is a captain and that he is worth talking about in every stanza of his poem. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay These three stanzas the plot of the poem is about Abraham Lincoln who is a more similar figure to Walt Whitman, this is shown in the second stanza when he says Here's Captain! Dear also, Walt Whitman could see him as a father figure and a Captain who did not deserve his death and for whom he deserved to be celebrated. There are lines that show that he is dead and also a poetic device that shows his death is repetition. An example of a verse showing the death of Abraham Lincoln is "O bloody drops of reading" when it says it could mean anything, Walt Whitman is directing the verse to the Captain who is Walt Whitman.Works CitedWhitman, W. (1865) . Oh Captain! My Captain! In Leaves of Grass (pp. 206-207). Thayer & Eldridge.Kaplan, J. (2003). Walt Whitman: A Life. Harper Perenne. Miller, J. E. (2003). "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman! like an elegy for Abraham Lincoln. Journal of American Culture, 26(3), 387-394.Reynolds, D. S. (1995). Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography. Vintage.Loving, J. (1999). Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself. University of California Press.Burroughs, J. (1900). Whitman: a study. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Kaplan, J. (2000). Lincoln in American memory. University of Chicago Press.Krimmel, W. (1971). The Old Civil Servant as Natural Aristocrat : The Captain in "O Captain! My Captain!" by Whitman. American Literature, 43(2), 225-238.Callow, P. (1992). Walt Whitman: The Poet and His Critics. Paragon House.Loving, J. (1996). Walt Whitman: Song of Himself. University Press.