O Captain! My Captain!
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Walt Whitman wrote this poem after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, just as the Civil War was coming to an end. Like his fellow
countrymen. Whitman had deep love and respect for the beloved hero who held the nation together through such a time of crisis.
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
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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 anchord 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.
-Public Domain
What is the poet's purpose in contrasting the celebratory atmosphere of the shores and the speaker's mournful demeanor in the last stanza?
A.
To emphasize the speaker's relief at the safe return of the ship
B.
To highlight the ship's victorious journey and its impact on the crew
C.
To underscore the captain's heroic actions during the trip
D.
To evoke a sense of bittersweet emotion and the personal loss experienced by the speaker