Elegy - Caty Beth Gooding

O Captain! My Captain!

BY WALT WHITMAN

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d 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.

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 ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

                         Here Captain! dear father!

                            This arm beneath your head!

                               It is some dream that on the deck,

                                 You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d 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 mournful tread,

                               Walk the deck my Captain lies,

                                  Fallen cold and dead.

Source: Leaves of Grass (David McKay, 1891)

I believe this poem is a very good example of a elegy. The poem is broken up into three stanzas, like  an elegy would be broken up in its three elements. The first stanza is the lament portion of the elegy, and we can really see this when "heart!" is repeated thrice. The second stanza is the praise and admiration of the idealized dead portion of the elegy. It suggests that the "Captain" is so great, that even the bugle trills on his account. It also calls the Captain "dear father," which is (usually) a term of endearment, and also someone who leads while protecting, which may be what the Captain did. The third stanza is the consolation and solace portion of the elegy. It states that the ship is "anchor'd safe and sound," suggesting that the Captain did his job, and did it well. It suggests that the speaker wishes to be with the Captain and knows he will be there soon. I think that this poem is saying that everyone has someone in their life they look up to, and would follow as they would follow a captain of a ship. It also shows that while the dead cannot respond to us and may have already moved on, we never truly move on from losing someone who was special to us.