啊船长我的船长表达分析An Analysis of Artistic Expression in O Captain! My Captain

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 SpeechWhitman 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.MetaphorA 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.SymbolismSymbolism is another fundamental method in literature creating. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent things. Through symbolism, abstract emotions andfeelings can be transferred as concrete objects. The author uses symbolism to express deep emotions and meanings, to establish a connection between imagination and reality in readers’ mind, which makes plain object process great impression. Whitman used flag, bugle, bouquets, ribbon, shores that symbolize victory and happiness. The force bringing the division of north and south is doomed to fail and the Unites State reunites again. They are combined with the anger and sorrow with the scene that shows the captain had already died on the deck could not share the victory with his people. It actually takes a contrast scene between the happiness of the victory and the sadness of the death of captain. It is also a contrast between dynamic and static, which contributes to the gloomy atmosphere.C.RepetitionRepetition is another important rhetorical device that is frequently used in literature. It means the use of same word, phrase, and speech sound in a poem or speech. In the first stanze, Whitman writes “But O heat! heart! heart!”. He repeats the word “heart”for three times, shows the sudden change of the author’s mood and feelings. Readers would feel a sad and distressed heart is beating heavily. The emotion of wretchedness and tragedy is clearly seen from the short line. Through repeating “heart”, author can better express his sorrow feelings and give emphasis on it. In addition, readers can also feel more about their own sad hearts and have the resonance with the author. The repetition can also give readers some kind of rhythm sensation and the beauty of music. The repetition makes the poem easy to read and leaves a deep impression on readers’ minds.In the second stanze, the poet writes “O Captain! my captain! rise up and hear the be; rise up”. The repetition of “rise up” demonstrates the desperation and desire of the author. He hopes that the death of the captain is only a dream. He wishes that the captain could wake and rise up to come back to people. When he depicts the ceremonious scene that people are welcoming the coming back of the ship, the poet writes, “Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning”. In the in the two short lines, the poet repeats the phrase “for you” for four times. The grand sight and triumphal atmosphere is described. It forms a contrast with the cold and dead body of the captain.Another repetition is “Fallen cold and dead”. The author writes the sentence at the end of every stanze. The scene of the cold and dead body of President Lincoln is showed three times before readers like a movie. It stimulates the vision and tactile senses of readers, and gives readers a feeling of shock. The poet placed the cold dead body before the readers through spaced repetition as if people can’t believe the reality that President Lincoln is dead and still hope for something else. Reader will also be emotional passionate after reading the poem and have a resonance that feeling sad and regret about Lincoln’s death with the poet.D.ApostropheApostrophe means to address to a person (often dead or absent) or to a thing as ifit were a person in a public speech or poem. In this mourning poem, Whitman uses a great amount of apostrophes. When the captain finally gets through difficulties and obstacles and leads people to victory, he himself falls cold and dead on the deck. The author can’t control his grief and indignation any more. He calls “captain”, “my captain”“my dear father” as if he is calling his family back. Such apostrophe is an auditory and visual clash to readers and is rather impressive. There are three stanze in the poem, using twelve apostrophe altogether, which establishes an intimate relationship between the poet, readers and the captain. Especially in the second stanze, the poet changes the apostrophe from “captain”to “my dear father”. Reader will imagine the scene that when the parents passed away in family, children are always shaken to the core. Reader will empathize with the poet and produce a deep sorrow feeling.II.Analysis of the StructureThere are three stanze in the poem. Whitman divides the poem mainly according to the integrity of the meaning. To better express the sad emotion and feelings, the structure is unique in O Captain! My Captain! The emotion is gradually developed in three stanze.The emotion for President Lincoln develops in three stanze. The address for President Lincoln is from “captain”to “dear father”then to “my dear father”. The poet’s emotion for President is deeper and deeper. Readers can feel his sorrow for a great leader and more important, a beloved father. Readers will have a resonance with the poet.The poet’s praise for Lincoln’s accomplishments also changes and develops in three stanze. In the first stanze, be describes the back of the ship indicating the triumph the Civil War. And the poet himself is a soldier under the leadership of President Lincoln. To some extent, the poet shows that soldiers have great affection for Lincoln. In the second stanze, the author again praises the achievements of President Lincoln by showing people’s love for him. In the third stanze, the poet confirms the Lincoln’s historical accomplishment. He consistently praises Lincoln’s contribution just to praise the spirit of Lincoln. Lincoln is a symbol of freedom, equality and democracy. Whitman admires Lincoln for his dedicated spirit to achieve the freedom and equality of all American.In addition, the poet’s condolence for President Lincoln also develops in the three stanze. The first stanze is the object narration of captain’s death. And he is shocked that after all the obstacles and hardships the captain lead them through, the captain is dead when victory finally comes. In the second stanze, the author does not believe that the captain has died. He wishes that it is only a dream, the captain and dear father would rise up and share the happiness of victory with people. He is almost desperate to ask the captain to “rise up”, which gives a deep impression for readers. In the third stanze, the poet admits the reality that the captain is dead, and he is shaken to the core. Readers can sense the poet’s true feeling for President Lincoln and bear a resonance in heart through the whole poem.The author combines his condolence for Lincoln with the praise for Lincoln’s contributions so that the poet is not only impressive, it also has profound meanings. The poem also expresses Whitman’s aspiration for freedom, equality and democracy. Poem is a literature form that can best express the author feelings. O Captain! My Captain!is an especially excellent work among poems. Reader can almost see the tremendous scenery in their minds and feel the same sorrow with the author even after hundreds of year.Bibliography卢华萍：《悲情呼唤的艺术》，《山西高等学校社会科学学报》，第23卷第9期，1008-6285 （2001）09-0111-03高全孝：《赏析<啊，我的船长！我的船长！>诗歌中修辞手段的使用》，《西藏民族学院报》，第26卷第6期，1003-8388-（2005）06-0073-03央泉，陈中平：《简析<啊，我的船长！我的船长！>的隐喻结构及其功能》，《湖南医科大学学报》，第9卷第2期，1008-8229（2007）02-0139-03。