Question

Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head; It is some dream that on the deck, You've fallen cold and dead." In about one hundred words, discuss the symbolism and emotional effect of the metaphor in bold in the stanza. Cite specific words and lines to support your analysis.

Answer 1

The poem, "O Captain! My Captain!" was written by Walt Whitmen who dedicated this literary art for Abraham Lincoln and his journey through the Civil war.  In the line "Here Captain! dear father!" he had referred to the captain as his "father" meaning it shows the that Whitman highly respects Lincoln and his leadership.  The first stanzas int he poem actually represents happiness in the beginning and following with the second stanza that seems to represent celebration yet the transition of it seems to be tragic.

For this line "You've fallen cold and dead." means that the writer expresses his grief of the captain's death and it says a lot on the third stanza that he had experienced a deep loss.