American Literature / Unit 10 AML 0912 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"O Captain! My Captain!" and Its Odd Formality
Captions available
The idea
The other Lincoln poem is Whitman's most conventional: rhymed, regularly stanzaed, built on an extended figure of the ship brought safely to port with its captain dead on the deck. It was his most popular poem in his lifetime, and he came to resent it.
In practice
Rhyme and refrain, from the free-verse poet.
Where people slip
His most popular poem is his least typical.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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