O Captain! My Captain!
A Poem By Walt Whitman Background of the poet Walt Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature. Whitman was born in 1819 in Long Island, New York, and he began his career as a journalist. He published his first edition of 'Leaves of Grass' in 1855, and the final edition was published in 1892, just a year before his death. Background of the poem Whitman wrote 'O Captain, My Captain' as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated in 1865. The poem was written shortly after Lincoln's death and was published in the New York Saturday Press in November of the same year. The poem was later included in Whitman's 'Sequel to Drum-Taps' in 1865 and 'Leaves of Grass' in 1867. Negative and positive aspects The poem 'O Captain, My Captain' has both negative and positive aspects. The negative aspect is the death of Abraham Lincoln, ...