An elegy written by Walt Whitman mourning and praising Lincoln is the best definition of “O Captain! My Captain! An elegy written by Walt Whitman mourning and praising Lincoln is the best definition of “O Captain!

The theme of the poem is that victory comes with a price. The speaker states that no matter the ship(United States) has braved the tough storm of civil war but it has lost its Captain (Abraham Lincoln). The speaker is torn between relief and despair.

The overarching theme is the death of Abraham Lincoln. His death heralded not only the end of the Civil War (Whitman’s original motivation for writing “Song of Myself” was, according to Whitman scholar Ed Folsom, an attempt to use poetry to keep the nation together) but also the end of a great presidency.

A bugle trill is a short burst of notes from a bugle horn, often meant to signify military victory.

‘ is an allegorical poem written by Walt Whitman. The poem is one of the best-extended allegorical poems. Whitman wrote the poem in the year 1865, the same year that Lincoln died. Captain is an allusion to the president, Abraham Lincoln, while the ‘ship’ (Whitman 1) is an illusion to the United States.

The captain is a metaphor for Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States from 1861-1865. Lincoln was like a captain because he was the leader of the country in the same way that a captain leads his crew.

The prize is the abolition of slavery and being the winner of the war, but it does in fact come at the price of war and bloodshed, as the speaker turns to his Captain who has “Fallen cold and dead” (line 8).

Answer and Explanation: The irony is that even though the captain has steered the ship and has safely returned to port, he is lying “cold and dead” on the deck of the ship. The captain is Abraham Lincoln who has led the Union through a horrible civil war, the American Civil War.

Whitman’s 1865 “O Captain! My Captain!” is a poem celebrating the end of the Civil War while, at the same time, mourning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It has been “fearful trip,” but people are “exulting” because the war is over.

In this metaphor, the poet describes how the ship has endured many “racks” (i.e. storms), “fearful” journeys, and dangers—metaphorically standing in for the destructive battles of the American Civil War—before finally coming home to harbor having won what the speaker calls its “prize” or “object.” This prize is a …

our fearful trip is done; What does “our fearful trip is done” refer to? the ship has docked. the end of the war. they are back from a trip.

Answer: In his famous poem “O Captain, My Captain,” Walt Whitman is referring to Abraham Lincoln. The “fearful trip” which has just concluded is the American Civil War. Walt Whitman, who had lived in Washington during most of the Civil War, was a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln.

In the poem “O Captain! My captain!” by Walt Whitman, the ship does symbolize the United States of America. More particularly, the ship represents the union army at the end of the Civil War.

The captain is being referred to as the father by the speaker for the first time in the poem (Trinh, 2002, p. 2). This show Lincoln was not only recognized by the people as their president but also as a mentor of the generation. He symbolizes a new dawn or era in American history, where people are free from slavery.

elergy. Elergy in literature, an elergy is a mouthful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.

1a : a characterizing word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing. b : a disparaging or abusive word or phrase.

Epithet is a descriptive literary device that describes a place, a thing, or a person in such a way that it helps in making its characteristics more prominent than they actually are. Also, it is known as a “by-name,” or “descriptive title.”

An epithet is a nickname or descriptive term that’s added to someone’s name that becomes part of common usage. For example, in the name Alexander the Great, “the Great” is an epithet.

An epithet is a literary device that describes a person, place, or object by accompanying or replacing it with a descriptive word or phrase. Other examples of epithet in monarchs include French king Charles the Bald and Spanish king Philip the Pious. In literary terms, epithets are a characteristic of Homer’s style.

: the act of characterizing especially : the artistic representation (as in fiction or drama) of human character or motives the author’s characterization of the boy as someone who wanted to be accepted by others.

An example of a transferred epithet is: “I had a wonderful day.” The day is not in itself wonderful. The speaker had a wonderful day. The epithet “wonderful” actually describes the kind of day the speaker experienced. Some other examples of transferred epithets are “cruel bars,” “sleepless night,” and “suicidal sky.”

Foil, in literature, a character who is presented as a contrast to a second character so as to point to or show to advantage some aspect of the second character.

Draco Malfoy