O Captain！ My Captain!

--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.

2

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-ccrowding;

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.

3

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.
            

a-crowding
是英语中一种较古的用法，将前缀a- 附在动词或以-ing结尾的分词前，表示“在~~~~动作的进行过程中”

作者简介：惠特曼（1819-1892），生于纽约长岛，曾任教员、排字工人、记者等职。1855年出版诗集《草叶集》（Leaves of Grass），最初未获好评。诗人自1856至1891年间不断将《草叶集》修改增订。

这首诗写于亚伯拉罕.林肯被刺之后不久.它无疑是惠特曼生前流行最广和最知名的诗歌.在诗中,惠特曼把刚刚取得平定南方分裂主义叛乱和废奴制度胜利的美国,比作一艘冲破暴风雨,胜利返航的巨轮, 而把在残酷而艰苦的长期内战中料事如神,指挥若定,但却在胜利前夕被刺的亚伯拉罕.林肯总统,比作驾驶巨轮冲破惊涛骇浪,但最终倒在了甲板上的船长.诗中采取了对比的手法: 一方面是在海岸边等待巨轮胜利返航的人们,他们在欢呼雀跃,岸上旗帜招展,号角齐鸣;另一方面是站在巨轮甲板上的叙述者,他望着躺在甲板上已与世长辞的慈父般的船长, 不禁泪如雨下,心如刀割. 这种强烈情感的鲜明对比造成了一种感人至深的戏剧性效果.

这首诗的排版也比较特别, 仿佛一艘船,跟文意暗合.

电影<死亡诗社>里朗诵的便是这首诗.