1)In "o caption!my caption!"the poet is morning....

2)Why are the people acting as they are in the following lines of "o caption!My caption"?
*for you banquets and ribbon'd wreaths*
*for you the swaying mass,their eager faces turning*

3)in the first line from "o caption!my caption!"what does "our fearful trip"refer to?

5 answers

I need ASAP!!Im not trying to be rude but i do:(
I tried an i read the poem literally 10 times X(
ANYBODY??I really need help its like due in 20 min!!:(
plz,ms sue.or steve?
The captain that Whitman mourns was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had been assassinated and the Union had won the Civil War.

O Captain! My Captain!
BY WALT WHITMAN
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 don't get number 2...
The people are celebrating the Civil War victory and the fact that the U.S. is one country.