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Walt Whitman, “I Hear America Singing”

Having been written before the Civil War, “I Hear America Singing” makes an interesting companion to “O Captain! My Captain!,” which Whitman wrote immediately following the Civil War’s end.

Plato, Republic

The extended metaphor Whitman uses in this poem may be traced back to the Republic, a work of political philosophy in which Plato imagines the state as a ship in need of a navigator. Plato thought that the philosopher made the most competent navigator. For Whitman, however, the best navigator was a man like Abraham Lincoln.

Edgar Allen Poe, “Lenore”

Given the vast difference in their literary output and general outlook, Whitman and Poe may seem like something of a literary odd couple. Even so, “O Captain! My Captain!” and “Lenore” both examine the unique challenges of moving through grief in the face of loss. For that reason alone, they are worth considering in relation to each other.

Emily Dickinson, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”

“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” also examines grief, though from an admittedly more abstract perspective. Even so, Dickinson’s poem shares with Whitman’s an acute interest in the different forms of contradiction that arise in the experience of grief.

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