Letter and corrected reprint of Walt Whitman's "O Captain, My Captain" with comments by author, 9 February. 9 February, 1888. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.055/.
Having read and examined this primary source as an educator, not only can this poem be used during a unit in which students are learning about Abraham Lincoln, the intended subject of the poem, but it can also be used in a unit on poetry or on the importance of revision. Students can compare Whitman’s original poem with that of his revised text, analyzing and discussing the changes he made to punctuation and content. Students who are learning about Lincoln can make comparisons between what they know about the president and the captain in the poem. This resource contains Whitman’s handwritten corrections to the poem, as well as the letter he sent to the publishers.
Walt Whitman wrote “O Captain, My Captain” after the death of Abraham Lincoln. Originally published in 1865, Whitman revised his poem once in 1866 and again in 1871. Since the poem was revised multiple times and reprinted in several different anthologies, it ended up being published with incorrect punctuation and lines in the anthology, Riverside Literature Series No. 32. This letter and corrected reprint was sent from Whitman to the publishers on February 9, 1888, from Camden, NJ.
"Leave you not the little spot" in the first stanza was supposed to be "O the bleeding drops of red." In the second stanza, Whitman corrects "This arm I push beneath you" to "This arm beneath your head." In the final stanza, the editors quoted, "But the ship, the ship is anchor’d safe, its voyage safe and done" whereas it should have read, "The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done."
- The United States Civil War took place from April 12, 1861, to April 9, 1865.
- President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
- Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, and died one day later on April 15, 1865.
- Walt Whitman originally wrote “O Captain, My Captain” after the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
- How does the speaker’s thoughts about the captain in the corrected poem compare and contrast with American public opinion of Lincoln?
- What impact do the changes that Whitman made on the punctuation and wording of the poem have on the reader’s understanding of the poem and its message?
- Why might Whitman have chosen to revise his poem after its original publication?
New Jersey Learning Standards-ELA
RL.CI.8.2.: Determine a theme of a literary text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
- Students will be able to read the text “O Captain, My Captain” by Walt Whitman and will be able to discuss how the changes that Whitman made to the text contribute to the poem’s meaning.
Primary Sources and Standards: Analyzing how specific word choices shape meaning.
- Students can complete a close reading of the poem and note how word choice and punctuation contributes to the meaning, particularly in the sections that Whitman corrected in this printed version of the poem, “O Captain, My Captain.”
- Educators may wish to have students compare and contrast this version of Whitman’s corrected poem with the version that is available on the Poetry Foundation’s website.
- Educators may prompt students to think about the revision process that Whitman went through with his own poem and might encourage students to implement a similar process with a piece of their own writing. Ideas may be adapted from this ReadWriteThink lesson plan.
- There has been some censorship of late limiting the teaching of history, especially in accordance with the Civil War in the United States. Confederate sympathizers might take offense at a poem that is geared toward praise of Abraham Lincoln, who was the President of the United States at the time.
Links to resources for approaching those topics
- Facing History has information that could be useful for helping educators who are teaching information about the Civil War and its aftermath.
- Abraham Lincoln: A Poem by Lyman Whitney Allen: Additional poems about Abraham Lincoln that may be selected in place of “O Captain, My Captain.”
- Langston Hughes’s Drafts of “Ballad of Booker T.”: Exploring the Creative Process: This alternative text shows the revision process for Hughes’s poetry and can be compared and contrasted with Whitman’s revisions to “O Captain, My Captain.”
- YouTube video clip of Robin Williams performing the poem, “O Captain, My Captain” in the film, The Dead Poet’s Society
- American Academy of Poets information about Whitman and “O Captain, My Captain”
- O Captain, My Captain: Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil War book for reference