The poem "O Captain! My Captain" is an elegy written by Walt Whitman following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. In this poem, Whitman reflects on the sadness the event causes him, as well as many other Americans. However, he also argues that the country and its people will eventually be ok. He tells us that <em>"The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done." </em>The ship refers to the nation, and the fact that it is "safe and sound" shows that the country will indeed recover from the wounds left by the Civil War and the assassination of Lincoln.
