A closer look at what’s perfect, what’s

close, and what’s wandering away

With “O Captain, My Captain”

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; 10For 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; 20Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!But I, with mournful tread,Walk the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.

Good:

I think the poem is going to be a bout a captain of a sea ship, and his crew is enduring hardships through the ocean.

Okay:

I think the poem will be about a captain sailing a ship and they’re in danger of crashing or something.

I predict this story is going to be about a really bad storm that the captain and crew members had to face

Needs more/Not close:

I think that it will be about a captain

Good:

Rhyme: gets one point across to the next

Head/dead, still/will, won/done

Okay

The devices used were illiteration, end rhyme, rhyme.

Illiteration – flag is flung for

End rhyme – head/dead

Rhyme – near/hear

Needs more/Not close:

The device of the poem is the captain because it is the main character

There is figurative language in the poem like head/dead

Good:

Dead (-) not alive; bleeding (-) dying, losing blood; mournful (-) sad; won (+) achieved; eager (+) excited; grim (-) dark-looking

Okay:

The words that have negative are that his captain is fallen cold and dead. The positive ones are where he says they’re trip is done.

Positive words: won, done, head, father, eager

Negative words: dead, tread, still, pale, stale, red

Needs more/Not close:

I believe he or she’s tone is loud

Line 2: weather’d

Good: The attitude of the people/person is that they’re

happy that they won but once they go tell their captain and he’s dead, it’s like good and bad. Everything was going good because they won the trip and prize, but sad to find their captain dead with no pulse or will.

Okay: The author’s tone is very sad.

Overall the poem the attitude could be love because everyone is theire just for the captain to show appreciation. And depressed someone died.

Needs more/Not close: The attitude and the plot does not change because it

starts and ends the same.

Good: Lines 1-4: they won a prize/treasure and are nearing

the port

Lines 5-8: the captain of the ship is dead on the deck

Lines 9-16: crowd on shore wants to see him but he won’t respond to his son

Lines 17-24: the ship is safe in port but the son is still mournful

Okay The ship has weather’d every rack: every rack is old

Rise up for you the flag: honor the captain

Needs more/Not close The captain is dead wich is the father of him or her

The ship has weather’d every crack that it has on there the people are all exulting

Good: The theme is that the enormous terrifying sea is

dangerous because it even killed the captain.

The theme in this poem is that life isn’t fair, and that to obtain something you need to give something away. In this poem, an example was winning a battle and then having someone die.

Okay The purpose of this poem was probably to show how

much he loves him and wanted to show it. He also has good meaning toward this story to show how even the happiest days can go wrong.

Needs more/Not close: The theme was about them being on a boat for a long

time. It wasn’t pretty on the boat. The people were frightened and scared.