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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 5 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The list of ways the crowd is celebrating the arrival of the ship in lines 9-12 is an example of which technique?

2. What does it mean that the people are "exulting"?

3. Line 4, "While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring," contains examples of which techniques?

4. Which is the best interpretation of line 9, when the speaker urges "O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells"?

5. In the second quatrain of the second stanza, what becomes clear about the speaker's state of mind?

Short Essay Questions

1. What elements of the poem's diction establish a warm and personal relationship between the speaker and the captain?

2. Describe the form of "O Captain! My Captain!"

3. Explain the allegorical nature of the poem's central conceit.

4. What ironic contrast do the poem's images highlight?

5. What evidence is there that the speaker is struggling to understand and process the captain's death?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Whitman's use of musical devices support the poem's theme? Write an essay that identifies where Whitman uses assonance, consonance, and alliteration and explains the effect these devices create. Then, tie Whitman's use of these devices to the poem's larger thematic concerns.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that considers the following: what message does the poem's central conceit send about the necessity of any one individual--even a president--to a collective effort like the preservation of the Union? Offer evidence from the poem to support your claims, and if you use outside sources for information related to the poem's historical background, be sure to cite these in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Go online and read Whitman's poem "When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d." This poem was also written to memorialize President Lincoln. Write an essay that compares and contrasts the themes of this poem and that of "O Captain! My Captain!" Support your assertions about each poem's theme with evidence from the text of both poems.

(see the answer keys)

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