"O Captain! My Captain!"
Listen to the poem, read it and learn it by heart. What historic event does the poem refer to?
The poem "O Captain! My Captain!" belongs to the pen of Walt Whitman, the famous American poet (1819-1892). When he published his first collection, "Leaves of Grass", in 1855, a distinctive American poetry was born. Whitman was very patriotic. His poetry combined broad ideas and personal experience. It broke with tradition (Whitman used free verse) and was attacked for its freedom. "O Captain! My Captain!" is dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, whom Whitman admired.
(by Walt Whitman)
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting (взволнованы),
While follow eyes the steady keel (киль), 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 (поднят) - for you the bugle trills (труба играет),
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths - for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying (шевелящаяся) 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 anchored (поставлен на якорь) 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 (шаг),
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.