Question

What message does the author want to convey in the above poem?
A) It conveys that life is sacred and we should not give it away no matter what.
B) It's about mourning the death of the one who was the captain of the nation and rejoicing over the intertwined victory.
C) It's about a love story set up in the backdrop of the civil war.
D) To the poet, humanity is the greatest form of connection between the people; the unique qualities of human nature form inextricable bonds between individuals and this is exactly what he is trying to convey.

Answer 1

Hint: The context of the above question is given in the poem O Captain! My Captain! It is an elegy (a serious poem or a poem lamenting death) written by Walth Whitman in 1865. It has been one of the most liked poems of Whitman. The poem discusses the end CIvil War and Death of Abraham Lincoln.

Complete answer:
The theme of the poem O Captain! My Captain ! conveys that victory and loss are intertwined, they are very closely related to each other. Where on one side people are happy due to the end of the Civil war there on the other side there is sadness due to the loss of life and trauma that has been suffered in the war.

Captain in the title of the poem refers to Abraham Lincoln. As per the poet, Lincoln guided America's ship to end the civil war and when the ship neared the shore, whe the purpose was almost achieved, when the people were finally happy, then, their happiness turned to grief on realising that they had lost their captain.

The poet wants to convey that happiness and sadness go parallely in life and are inseparable. The message that author wants to convey in the poem ‘O Captain! My Captain!’ is about mourning the death of the one who was the captain of the nation and rejoicing over the intertwined victory.

Thus the correct answer is option (B).

Note: The poem discusses the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He was the 16th president of the United States. He was assassinated because he wanted to liberate the slaves. But, John Wilkes Booth, a supporter of slavery, found Lincoln’s intentions unjustifiable and thus assassinated him.