The Speaker

Throughout the poem, the unnamed speaker expresses deep grief about the death of his Captain. His tone is generally solemn and respectful though punctuated with moments of deep pain, such as when he exclaims “But O heart! heart! heart!” and describes it “bleeding drops of red,” describes his “mournful tread,” or arrives at the bleak and heavy image of his Captain “Fallen cold and dead” at the end of every stanza (5-24). In fact, the famous line “O Captain! My Captain!” in the title and in the first line of each stanza, is a direct evocation and emphatic call to his beloved leader. To a certain degree, the speaker’s relationship with his leader transcends the often-impersonal hierarchies of employment at sea. The speaker uses first person possessive, in the form of “my” to refer to his Captain throughout the poem, highlighting the intensely personal bond he...