Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!” is a powerful elegy mourning the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Written shortly after Lincoln’s death, the poem employs an extended metaphor in which Lincoln is the “captain” of a ship representing the United States, navigating through the stormy voyage of the Civil War. Whitman, deeply affected by Lincoln’s leadership and legacy, crafts this metaphor to illustrate the paradox of national triumph overshadowed by personal loss. Through deliberate imagery and tone shifts, Whitman captures the collective grief of a nation while solidifying Lincoln’s place as a heroic and paternal figure.
Explain how Whitman develops an extended metaphor in his poem. “O, Captain! My Captain!”
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