Question

Read the following poem and write an appreciation of it with the help of the points given below:

O Captain! My Captain! 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. 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 anchor’d 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. -Walt Whitman

• Title     [0.5]
• Name of the poet     [0.5]
• Rhyme scheme     [1]
• Figure of speech (any one)     [1]
• Theme/Central idea (in 2 to 3 lines)     [2]

Answer 1

• Title: O Captain! My captain!
• Name of the poet: Walt Whitman
• Rhyme scheme: ‘aabb cded’
• Figures of speech: Alliteration, Inversion, Metaphor, Repetition, Onomatopoeia
• Theme/Central idea of the poem: The poem’s main theme is the author lamenting the passing of his illustrious leader. The poem conveys a range of feelings, from joy upon winning a fight to sorrow over the loss of their captain and leader. It is said that this poem alludes to President Abraham Lincoln’s passing following the American Civil War.