Abbrev Whitman PPT Oh Captain My Cpatain

Oh Captain

1. Walt Whitman An Introduction

2. Introduction May 31, 1819 to March 26, 1892 One of the most influential poets in American canon, often called the “Father of Free Verse” & America’s first “poet of democracy.” Whitman & Emily Dickinson considered the founders of American poetic form. Belief that there was a vital, symbiotic relationship between the poet and society. Work considered very controversial. Leaves of Grass described as obscene for its overt sexuality.

3. Whitman’s Life Born in New York. Large, poor family. Spent only a few years in school, leaving when he was 11 to become the apprentice to a printer. He became interested in journalism and spent several years in New York City writing and editing for various publishers . He spent most of the remainder of the war volunteering in army hospitals, caring for the sick and the wounded.

4. “O Captain! My Captain!” On April 14 th , 1865, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (who died on April 15 th ) sent a wave of grief over the country. Whitman , who admired Lincoln for his plain spoken ways and his courage, wrote his most famous poem, “Oh Captain! My Captain!”, in honor of the slain president. In this poem, Whitman expressed the grief of the American people.

5. “O Captain! My Captain !”: An Elegy A elegy is a mournful or melancholy poem, usually written as a funeral sermon or to honor the dead.

6. “O Captain! My Captain!”: An Extended Metaphor Extended metaphors compare two people, places, or things at some length and in several ways without using like or as . We learn more about a subject and understand it better when it is compared to something else. In this poem, Whitman compares Lincoln to the captain of a ship.

7. “O Captain! My Captain!”: Synedoche Figure of speech in which a part of something represents the whole. Examples Rack of a ship = underside of a ship; here it refers to the whole ship. “Eager faces” refers not to one person’s face, but to the entire crowd. “Lips” refers to general state of death. “Shores” refers to land as a whole.

8. “O Captain! My Captain!”: Apostrophe When the speaker of a poem directly addresses someone or something that isn’t present in the poem. Examples: In the first stanza, the speaker calls out “O heart!.” He does not literally speaking to his own heart but rather is referencing his own emotions. In the second stanza, the speaker asks the Captain to rise. He cannot rise. He is dead. This tells us, however, that the speaker cannot accept the Captain’s death. In the third stanza, the speaker calls to the “shores” and the “bells.”