Walt Whitman wrote "O Captain! My Captain!" as an elegy for Abraham Lincoln, picturing him as a ship's captain who dies just as his ship comes safely into port. This free worksheet has the full poem with numbered lines, vocabulary, five discussion questions, a writing prompt and an answer key. No signup needed.
Grades 6–9 · Common Core RL.7.4, RL.7.2, RL.7.5 · US Letter PDF, with an answer key on the last page
What’s on the worksheet
Whitman wrote the poem in 1865, after President Lincoln was assassinated at the end of the Civil War. It is an extended metaphor: the captain is Lincoln, the ship is the United States, and the "fearful trip" is the war. Unusually for Whitman, it uses regular rhyme, meter and a refrain.
Vocabulary
- rack: violent strain or storm damage
- exulting: rejoicing, celebrating
- keel: the main beam along the bottom of a ship
- trills: plays with a quick, shaking sound
- swaying: moving back and forth
- victor: winner
- mournful: full of sadness
Discussion questions
- Who is the captain, what is the ship, and what is the "fearful trip"?
- Why is the crowd on shore celebrating while the speaker is grieving?
- What words or phrases repeat across the three stanzas? What effect does the repetition have?
- How does the speaker's way of addressing the captain change from stanza to stanza?
- Why might Whitman have chosen a ship and a voyage to describe this moment in history?
Writing prompt
Write a short elegy (12–16 lines) for a person, pet or place you have lost, using one extended metaphor all the way through.
The answer key is included in the PDF, on its own page for teachers.