Reading: Literature Learning Stations
Poetry
Teacher Page
Unit: Poetry
Goal: Students will be able to interpret the literary language used in poetry.
Common Core State Standards (CCSS):
6th Grade
7th Grade
RL.6.9. Compare and contrast
texts in different forms or genres
(e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in
terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.
RL.7.9. Compare and contrast
a fictional portrayal of a time,
place, or character and a historical account of the same period
as a means of understanding
how authors of fiction use or alter history.
8th Grade
RL.8.9. Analyze how a modern
work of fiction draws on themes,
patterns of events, or character
types from myths, traditional
stories, or religious works such
as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered
new.
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School
Officers. All rights reserved.
Materials List/Setup
Station 1: Extended Metaphor Poem (Activity); “O Captain! My Captain!” (Handout)
Station 2: Poems: Compare and Contrast (Activity); “O Captain! My Captain!” (Handout);
“The Martyr” (Handout)
Station 3: Citing Textual Evidence (Activity); “O Captain! My Captain!” (Handout)
Station 4: Literary Devices (Activity); “O Captain! My Captain!” (Handout)
Activity: one copy per student
Handout: one copy per each student in a group
Opening Activity and Discussion Questions (Teacher-Directed)
1. What do you know about the American Civil War?
2. What do you know about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln?
3. What is an extended metaphor poem?
Student Instructions for Learning Stations
At the learning stations, you will analyze two poems with the same theme. Discuss your answers
with other team members after completing each activity.
Closure: Reflection
The following questions can be used to stimulate discussion or as a journaling activity.
1. How can you tell the poem “O Captain! My Captain” is an example of an extended metaphor
poem?
2. What is the difference between reading Walt Whitman’s poem about Abraham Lincoln and
reading about Lincoln in a textbook?
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Reading: Literature Learning Stations
Poetry
Name:
Date:
Station One: Extended Metaphor Poem
A metaphor is a comparison of two like or unlike things.
Example: The snow is a blanket covering the countryside.
Snow and a blanket are being compared. They are alike
because they both cover something.
An extended metaphor poem takes a metaphor and
compares it throughout the poem. “O Captain! My Captain!” is an
extended metaphor poem. Walt Whitman wrote this poem as a tribute
to President Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated just before the
end of the Civil War.
Directions: Read the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” and complete
the chart below.
Extended Metaphor
Meaning
“the captain”
“the trip”
“the vessel”
“the ship has weathered
every rack”
“the prize we sought is won”
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“O Captain! My Captain!”
Both
Tone
“The Martyr”
Directions: Use the Venn diagram to compare and contrast the tone of the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” to the tone of
the poem “The Martyr.”
Walt Whitman wrote the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Herman Melville also wrote a poem about President Lincoln’s death. The name of Melville’s poem is “The Martyr.”
Station Two: Compare and Contrast
Reading: Literature Learning Stations
Poetry
Name:
Date:
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Reading: Literature Learning Stations
Poetry
Name:
Date:
Station Three: Citing Textual Evidence
Directions: Read “O Captain! My Captain!” and answer the questions below.
1. What is the theme of the poem?
2. Who is the intended audience for the poem?
3. Describe the attitude of the poem’s narrator toward President
Lincoln. Cite evidence from the poem to support your answer.
4. Which side is the narrator most likely to have supported during the Civil War: the Union or
Confederacy? Cite evidence from the poem to support your answer.
5. What can you infer about the Union victory from stanza two of the poem? Cite textual evidence to support your answer.
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Reading: Literature Learning Stations
Poetry
Name:
Date:
Station Four: Literary Devices
Directions: Read the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” and complete the chart.
Mood is how the poet makes
you feel when you read his
or her poems. Examples of
words that describe mood
are frightening, mysterious,
happy, sorrowful, and joyful.
What is the mood of the poem? Cite textual evidence.
What is the tone of the poem? Cite textual evidence.
Tone is how the poet feels toward the topic. Examples of
words that describe tone are
amused, angry, sad, serious,
gloomy, and playful.
Give two examples of imagery used in the poem. Cite textual
evidence.
Imagery is created by the
words and phrases that appeal to the five senses.
What is the author’s purpose for writing the poem? Cite textual evidence.
Author’s Purpose is the reason an author writes on a
specific topic.
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Reading: Literature Learning Stations
Poetry
O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman wrote the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” following the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Whitman revised his poem several times. On February 9, 1888, Whitman wrote to a publisher about the errors to his poem that appeared in their anthology. He sent a
correction sheet to the publisher. The poem below reflects Whitman’s 1888 revisions. To view the
primary source and read more about this story, go online to: The Library of Congress—American
Memory Collection.
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:
For 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;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with silent tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies
Fallen cold and dead.
—Walt Whitman
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Reading: Literature Learning Stations
Poetry
The Martyr
THE MARTYR
Indicative of the passion of the people on the 15th of April, 1865.
Good Friday was the day
Of the prodigy and crime,
When they killed him in his pity,
When they killed him in his prime
Of clemency and calm—
When with yearning he was filled
To redeem the evil-willed,
And, though conqueror, be kind;
But they killed him in his kindness,
In their madness and their blindness,
And they killed him from behind.
There is sobbing of the strong,
And a pall upon the land;
But the People in their weeping
Bare the iron hand:
Beware the People weeping
When they bare the iron hand.
He lieth in his blood—
The father in his face;
They have killed him, the Forgiver—
The Avenger takes his place,
The Avenger wisely stern,
Who in righteousness shall do
What the heavens call him to,
And the parricides remand;
For they killed him in his kindness,
In their madness and their blindness,
And his blood is on their hand.
There is sobbing of the strong,
And a pall upon the land;
But the People in their weeping
Bare the iron hand:
Beware the People weeping
When they bare the iron hand.
—Herman Melville
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