Elegy · Death & Loss
O Captain! My Captain!
by Walt Whitman · 1865
O Captain! my Captain ! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered 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 ribboned 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 anchored 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.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman — quilloak.com/poems/o-captain-my-captain
Quick facts
- Poem
- O Captain! My Captain!
- Poet
- Walt Whitman
- Published
- 1865
- Length
- 24 lines
- Form
- Elegy, Rhyming Poems
- Themes
- Death & Loss, Grief
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 24 lines · 3 octaves
- Refrain
- “Fallen cold and dead.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Walt Whitman1819–1892
- Source record
- WikisourceO Captain! My Captain! by walt-whitman, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1865
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 4e3495e21c5e3ef4…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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