Walt Whitman Oh Captain O Captain My Captain Analysis

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Walt Whitman was a very interesting man. The two poems O Captain! My Captain! and Pioneers! O Pioneers! were both about his present time situations. He included his thoughts on the situations that were presented before him. The first poem, O Captain! My Captain!, at first seems like a pirates voyage across the sea. The more digging that is done towards the poem leads to the conclusion that it is all just one big metaphor. This poem accurately describes the peoples reactions to the civil war from the beginning of the war to the end of the war. The second poem is all about westward expansion and the people that made it possible. In this poem he seems to include the reader to make them more immersed into the poem. While he was writing his poems …show more content…

In the poem Pioneers! O Pioneers! he says the title over and over again throughout the poem. He also says we a lot and gives very in depth description on the situation at hand, “We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger”, “We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world” (Whitman, “Pioneers! O Pioneers!”). In the other poem he says O Captain! My Captain! A few times to get the reader to get attached to the captain to feel bad for him, “O Captain! My Captain! rise up and hear the bells” (Whitman, “O Captain! My Captain!”). In that line he says that because everyone wants the president to keep and pushing through. Abraham Lincoln, the captain, is not able to and will die …show more content…

He is able to keep the reader into his stories. He uses many different literary devices to his advantage. Without imagery his readers wouldn’t be able to get the insight that they need or want in order to see the history that Whitman describes. These poems of course wouldn’t be possible without the allusion aspect of them. The history is what is important here. He is thought to be a very smart man because he used these events and poems to get his views and opinions across. What exactly would the poems be without any of these few literary devices? Would they just be bland and distasteful? Perhaps his work wouldn’t be here for anyone to look