O Captain My Captain Reciting Poetry

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O Captain! My Captain!Reciting Poetry

• Standard 501.2.9

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Reciting Poetry

• Think about what the author is saying.
• Use emotions while reading.
• Pronounce each word clearly.
• Keep the flow of the poem moving.
• Watch for punctuation.

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O Captain! My Captain!

• By Walt Whitman
• 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,

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• 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.

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• O Captain! my Captain! rise up
• and hear the bells
• Rise up--for you the flag is flung
• for you the bugle trills,

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• For you bouquets and
• ribboned wreaths for you the shores
  a-crowding,For you they call, the swaying mass,
  their eager faces turning

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• 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

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• The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage
  closed and doneFrom fearful trip the victor
  ship comes in with object won

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• Exult O shores, and ring O bells!But I, with
  mournful tread,Walk the deck my Captain
  lies,Fallen cold and dead.

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Understanding the Poem

• In this poem, the Captain is a substitute for
  Abraham Lincoln, and the ship is the United
  States of America. The fearful trip is the
  Civil War, which had ended just prior to
  Lincolns assassination. The ship is returning
  home to cheering crowds having won the prize of
  victory, just as the Union, led by Lincoln, had
  returned victorious from the Civil War.

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• The poem expresses the authors grief and horror
  at the death of his leader. It also shows the
  celebration of the Union supporters over their
  victory in the Civil War.