An Analysis of Artistic Expression in O Captain! My Captain!
O Captain! My Captain is an outstanding poem written in 1865 by Walt Whitman. After four years conflicts, the civil war ended up with the victory of north and the abolishment of slavery. The slavery system was crushed and when the American people, was enthusiastically looking forward to their new era, their captain of the nation, Abraham Lincoln was killed by assassin. The news shocked everyone, including Walt Whitman. As a radical democratic poet who strongly opposed to slavery, he merged his sadness and distress into his poem and created O, Captain! My Captain!The artistic method was perfectly used in the poem, which gives people more understanding of his writing features and his emotional sustenance.
I.Analysis of Figure of Speech
Whitman uses multiple rhetorical devices to enhance the artistic influence in O Captain! My Captain! It makes the content more profound, the emotion more specific and the mood more solemn. Basically the poem applies metaphor, symbolism, repetition and apostrophe.
A.Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object. (Wikipedia) The most typical and obvious metaphor in this poem is “the captain”. He compares Lincoln as the captain, which is consistence with Lincoln’s role as leader in the Civil War, and his greatness in leading the northern people to success. In the second stanze, the author compares Lincoln to “my dear father”. It can easily remind people of the Father of American, George Washington. He gave birth to America. Lincoln saved American in the crisis, and to some extent, Lincoln gives rebirth to America. Therefore, it is appropriate to call Lincoln father. The metaphor for President Lincoln can express people including Whitman’s respect and admiration for him. “Father” also expresses the author’s true deep sorrow.
“T he ship” is another metaphor for the United State. The author also describes the American Civil War as a “fearful trip”. “The ship has weather’d every rack”indicates that America has experienced great difficulties and hardships in the war, and has successfully overcome all the obstacles. “The prize we sought is won”implies that slavery has been abolished, and the slaves finally get their freedom. “The port is near”means the ship has reached the destination and the victory could be seen. However, their captain has fallen on the deck and died. The extreme happiness instantly changed to the opposite sadness, which could arouse great resonance among most readers.
B.Symbolism
Symbolism is another fundamental method in literature creating. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent things. Through symbolism, abstract emotions and
