Gilberto Graywolf

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won...

Dedicated to all the captains in our lives that dare and inspire us to be ourselves.

The captain in the poem refers to Abraham Lincoln who is the captain of the ship, representing the United States of America. In popular culture, the film Dead Poets Society makes repeated references to this poem, especially when John Keating (Robin Williams) tells his students that they may call him "O Captain! My Captain!" if they feel daring.

Walt Whitman is renowned as the most innovative of American poets, this poem is a rare example of his use of rhymed, rhythmically regular verse, which serves to create a somber yet exalted effect. Whitman had envisioned Lincoln as an archangel captain, and reportedly dreamed the night before the assassination about a ship entering harbor under full sail." Show less