My favorite Whitman poem is "O Captain! My Captain!". That poem had a lasting impact on America. When President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, the nation was in shock. Whitman wrote "O Captain! My Captain!" to unite the country in the time of mourning. I also like the fact that it rhymes. I enjoy rhyming poems as it is easier for my to find the rhythm that the author intended. In "O Captain! My Captain!", the captain of the ship represents Abraham Lincoln. I also like the poem because it is easy to understand the symbolism. The ship is America and the captain is its dead president. The poem celebrates the Union winning the Civil War. I like the poem because it tells a story (and rhymes, rhyming poems are the best). But, seriously, rhyming poems rule. In my opinion, rhyming poems (specifically aabb or abab scheme poems) flow better. As I have never met any of the authors of the poems I have read, I do not know exactly how they intended on their poem being read. Maybe they would have emphasized a different word or phrase then what I would have emphasized when I read it out loud. That is why I like rhyming poems because I know how the author intended the rhythm to be. The emphasized words might be different in my mind, but it is definitely closer in a structured poem as opposed to a free verse. That is why out of Walt Whitman's poems I like "O Captain! My Captain!" because unlike the majority of his poems, it is not free verse. Whitman disliked the structure and constraint of structured rhyming poems, but knew that America could not handle a President Lincoln remembrance slash mourning poem involving his normal sexual innuendo and scandalous free verse. Instead of helping to heal the nation, that poem could have shocked the nation into healing, or scarred the already hurting nation more. Luckily "O Captain! My Captain!" was very successful and a very popular and non-offensive poem (that rhymes!).
Whitman, Walt. "O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!" The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 17 Apr. 2012.
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