O Captain! My Captain!

O Captain! My Captain! - context Summary

Composed After Lincoln's Assassination

Written in response to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and published in 1865 within Leaves of Grass, this poem is Whitman’s public elegy for a leader he admired. It frames the fallen president as a ship27s captain, blending national triumph with intimate grief. Whitman expresses collective mourning and personal loss simultaneously, using a direct address to the deceased figure to make the nation27s sorrow immediate and emotionally resonant.