Walt Whitman Views

Walt Whitman, vastly considered as one of the most influential poets of American literature, often expressed his emotions and opinions about key events in American history which occurred during his lifetime. One of such events was the assassination of the nation’s sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln. When news of Abraham Lincoln’s death reached Whitman, he had been preparing a volume of poems called “Drum-Taps.” However Whitman, who “was a great admirer of Lincoln, whom he felt embodied the American virtues of plain-spokenness, courage, and ‘horse-sense’” (Library of Congress), made the decision to switch gears and write a collection of poems concerning the tragedy that was the death of President Lincoln. This collection contained three

While at the time many Americans’ outlook on life at the moment was gloomy but many, including Walt Whitman, believed that the future held promise. Whitman was from what had been considered the Union and therefore viewed Lincoln with much respect and admiration. It is because of this that the narrator Whitman’s poem “O Captain! My Captain!” feels such despair when he realizes that his “Father” and beloved Captain has “fallen cold and dead.” Meanwhile, the other poem, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom,” talks about three main symbols which are the star, the lilac bush, and the

Repetition is commonly used in many of Walt Whitman’s poems in order to emphasize points and emotions. “O Captain! My Captain!” contains some very meaningful examples of repetition. For example, at the end of each stanza, the phrase “Fallen cold and dead” is repeated. This emphasizes the suddenness and cruelness of Lincoln’s assassination. The rest of the poem is filled with celebration of the victory of the Civil War yet at the end of each stanza each “sailor” is reminded of the fact that their leader will not be celebrating with them. Another example of repetition in “O Captain! My Captain!” is how the beginnings of lines contain the same words with slight differences in order to create associations between different words. An example of such would be how the first two lines in stanza three open with the phrases “My Captain” and “My Father” yet both refer to actions being done to the same person. Therefore readers can assume that the sailors felt that their “Captain”, Abraham Lincoln, was almost a father to them. Repetition is also used in the poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” Repetition is also used in this poem at the beginning of lines to express emotions. All five lines of the second section begin with the word “O” which is a word generally used when reacting to finding something out that can be used to display many