Where and how does whitman address each of the three stages of loss common to an elegy in “o captain! my captain! ”?

Whitman addresses the first stage of loss, the lament, through the following lines in the first stanza of the poem:

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

These lines reflect the speaker’s grief over the death of the “Captain,” who represents President Abraham Lincoln. The repetition of the word heart, followed by exclamation points, signals the speaker’s horror and sadness over the captain’s death. The phrase “the bleeding drops of red” also conveys a feeling of horror and heartbreak. In the final lines of the stanza, the speaker leaves us with a vivid image of the captain lying “cold” and lifeless on the deck of the ship. This image communicates the speaker’s mournful and disturbed state of mind at the death of the captain.

Whitman addresses the second stage of loss, praise, through these lines in the second stanza of the poem:

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-crowding,  For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;  

In these lines, the speaker praises the captain, urging him to wake up and see how people are celebrating his victory. He praises the captain by describing how everyone is happy to see him victorious and how he’s being welcomed back as a hero, with bells ringing in his honor and the bugle trilling. The captain’s followers are flinging their patriotic flag in his honor and have amassed bouquets and “ribbon’d wreaths” to thank him for winning the war. Crowds full of patriotic citizens have gathered on the shores to personally welcome back their beloved captain. The “swaying mass” is chanting the captain’s name and awaiting his return with “eager” anticipation.

Whitman addresses the third and final stage of loss, consolation, through these lines in the third stanza of the poem:

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,  the deck my Captain lies,  Fallen cold and dead.

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