“O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman (read by Tom O’Bedlam):

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.

---

I recently watched Dead Poets Society (1989) and absolutely loved it. The movie emphasizes the importance of both literature and critical thought; two forces that define much of who I am today.

While the movie references many poems, the one that sticks out is this one by Walt Whitman. In Dead Poets Society, “O Captain! My Captain!” is the phrase used by the students to address an unorthodox but inspiring English teacher, Mr. John Keating. I found the symbolism of this piece to the overall plot of the movie to be hauntingly beautiful.

Here are two takeaways from this poem:

1. Winning the war, but at what cost?

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, / The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won…

While “O Captain! My Captain!” was written at a time of celebration with the conclusion of the American Civil War, this poem is also an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. As a result, victory and loss are closely intertwined throughout the poem and this juxtaposition illustrates the close nature between victory, and any associated pain.

When one’s fearful trip is done (=success over trials), it might be human instinct to immediately celebrate. However, occasionally one must acknowledge the sacrifices made to get to that position; sacrifices which may have far been too great to be fair.

But O heart! heart! heart! / O the bleeding drops of red, / Where on the deck my Captain lies, / Fallen cold and dead.

Personally, one of the saddest moments of my Undergraduate degree was when I achieved straight H1s for my second year of Biomedicine. It seems like a weird flex, but I felt that the sacrifices I made for my physical and mental health far outweighed the grades that I got. It was ultimately a great lesson on how to prioritise studies though.

2. Individuals vs. the Nation

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding, / For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Another juxtaposition found throughout this poem is the distinction between the speaker and the nation’s response. The nation is depicted as being rejoiceful and quickly moving on from any sacrifices made –emphasizing a nation’s wellbeing over an individual’s. However, the speaker is clearly seen to be mourning through the repetition of fallen cold and dead at the conclusion of each stanza.

This separation is something that can applied beyond President Lincoln’s assassination. Often, people don’t seem to care that much about others’ problems. And quite fairly so – why should they, when they have their own demons to face?

Yet, being alone in one’s mourning can feel terribly isolating and be costly for one’s wellbeing. As a result, this piece indirectly emphasizes the need for strong relationships; ones that go beyond the superficial and where one will step into another’s shoes, taking on their problems as their own.

This is simultaneously a begging of others, but also a call to action: that sometimes, no matter how trivial another’s problems are, it is worth being a friend to them – simply to protect another from the harsh isolation that the world can bring.