Question

Read the following poem and answer the question that follows.

"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.

What connotation does the poet use for the words in bold? (10 points)



Celebration

Fury

Misery

Romance

Answer 1

I read the poem and I am completely positive that the connotation used in words”mournful tread” is misery not celebration or fury or romance

Answer 2

I too believe the answer to be the third option: misery.

Step-by-step explanation:

The poem presents a mournful tone for, even though the ship has safely returned home, the captain has died. The speaker cannot fully celebrate the long-awaited victory. He walks sadly, treads mournfully, around the captain's body.

Walt Whitman wrote this poem shortly after Abraham Lincoln died. Its metaphor presents Lincoln as the dead captain, the ship being the nation, still united after a gruesome civil war.