“O Captain, My Captain”

Cultural  

1. (1865) A poem by Walt Whitman about a captain who dies just as his ship has reached the end of a stormy and dangerous voyage. The captain represents Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated just as the Civil War was ending.

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Example Sentences

In homage to the fallen president, he wrote the poems “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” and “O Captain! My Captain!”

From Washington Post

The commemoration also will include music from the Kentucky Home Guard Band, a period Civil War-era brass band that will perform mournful music, and there will be a reading of Walt Whitman’s elegy, “O Captain! My Captain!”

From Washington Times

The cocktail menu is small — just six choices on opening weekend, including the lush Bramble, made with Old Forester, Pimms and blackberry liqueur, and the intriguing O Captain, My Captain, which gets its funk and tartness from aged rum, Angostura bitters and carrot juice.

From Washington Post

Amid the white-knuckle bets and trash talk, there was an “O captain, my captain” feel to the tournament.

From New York Times

"After this catharsis, a girl stands on her chair — riffing on the 'O Captain! My Captain!' scene from the movie 'Dead Poets Society' — to solemnly repeat the slogan back to the teacher and engage her in a cool handshake."

From Salon