Extended Metaphor Poem Assignment

Whitman’s poem “O Captain, My Captain!” is a poem of respect and mourning over the death of Lincoln. Yet we wouldn’t know who the captain really is if we didn’t know that Whitman himself supported Lincoln’s efforts to end slavery. Whitman doesn’t talk directly about Lincoln or say, “I’m so heartbroken over the death of my President.” He created a speaker for his poem who can give us all the emotion that Whitman feels. He creates an extended metaphor to show us he thinks of Lincoln not only as the captain of the nation, but as a father figure as well.

That’s pretty cool stuff.

Whitman also uses the shape of the poem to relate to both Lincoln and the captain. The poem looks a bit like the shape of a handgun (like the one used to assassinate Lincoln) and it also resembles the stern (back end) of a boat, where a captain would pilot a ship.

That’s pretty cool stuff.

In addition, he uses repetition. The speaker cries out “O Captain, My Captain!” multiple times, and if you read the stanzas, each time it could be said with a slightly different tone of voice, bringing new meaning to the lines.

This poem is as chill as a metal toilet seat on the shady side of an iceberg.

Now it’s your turn to write some pretty cool stuff. The three requirements to this new poem assignment are:

• Your poem must make use of an extended metaphor. Therefore, something that appears throughout your poem must have a “real world” parallel, just like the captain was really supposed to parallel Lincoln. Your “real-world” item can be a person (like Lincoln), an event, a belief, a feeling/emotion, an object, a desire -- doesn’t matter.
• Your poem must take on the shape of something relevant to the extended metaphor OR the real-world parallel. So if your poem is about mountain climbing, it might be shaped like a mountain or an ice axe.
• Your poem must use repetition. But not just any old repetition – the repetition must be relevant, and each time the word/phrase/sentence is repeated, it must be able to carry a different meaning.

The best way to start is to use the back of this handout for your pre-writing:

1.       The easiest thing to do is brainstorm ideas for a topic on the real-world side. Would you like to write about an older sister, your mother, a respected grandfather? A fishing trip? A book you read? A date you had? Don’t choose something mellow – go for something that actually has emotion tied to it, whether positive or negative. How about a horrible meal? Mowing the lawn? Overcoming a personal challenge?

2.       Cluster or mind-map or list all the details you can think of that relate to the “real-world” side.

3.       THIS STEP IS THE HARDEST. Now it’s time to come up with possible metaphors. You must ask yourself, “What is this real-world person, object, idea, experience, etc. LIKE?” Yes, ask “What is it LIKE?” Whitman thought losing Lincoln was like a ship losing a captain.

4.       A truly good extended metaphor has AT LEAST TWO similarities to the thing it is supposed to represent, so eliminate bad ideas early! Among Whitman’s parallels: A captain pilots a ship, and a President pilots the nation. A captain is like a father – a role model – just as a President is the father of the nation and a role model. The captain in the poem died after going through a perilous journey on rough seas. Lincoln died after the rough and violent years of the Civil War.

5.       Decide on an extended metaphor.

6.       Now decide on a shape for the poem and be able to explain why it makes sense. Remember: The poem has two worlds: The world of the poem (the metaphorical world) and the real world (what the metaphor means)

7.       Go for it – time to start the poem.