Basic analysis of Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!"

"The words of my books," said Walt Whitman, "are nothing, the drift of it everything." The various themes in Whitman's works are the most important, the actual erudite terms are only important in upholding these ideas. The main themes of his "O Captain! My captain!" are death of a hero, family, a journey, and defeat vs. victory. The themes are supported by a variety of concrete stylistic techniques, including tone, apostrophe, allusions, archetypes, and repetition. …

…defeat - "fallen cold and dead" comes at the end of each stanza, sending out a tone of finality and sentiment. One thing Walt Whitman was famed for: his ability to artistically project onto other people's lives. His elegies are his best-known work, and "O Captain! My Captain!" is probably his most eminent poem. Whitman is celebrated for his facility to utelize imagery and other stylistic techniques, contributing to the inclusive theme of his works.