January 1, 2026
Featured Poem
I’ve often relied on the time of year to influence the monthly poem selection. Since we live a rather agrarian lifestyle it seemed a good place to start even though most poetry has little relation to the seasons. But now the time has come to widen the net to include other influential pieces.
This month I’ve selected a poem that many know by title but most have never read. Written shortly after the assassination of President Lincoln and the end of the Civil War, it explores the painful paradox of victory coming at the cost of immense loss.
O Captain! My Captain!
By Walt Whitman
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
One reply on “The Poet’s Corner”
It was fun and cool to read The Raven again. You make me feel smart and educated.