America experienced profound changes during the mid-1800s. New technologies and ideas helped the nation grow as the Civil War tore it apart. During this tumultuous time, two great American writers captured their ideas in poetry. Their poems give us insight into the time period, as well as a universal insight into life. Although they are opposites in personality, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman created similar poems. Dickinson's hope is a thing with feathers and Whitman, O Captain! My Captain! they share many qualities. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay "Hope is a Thing with Feathers" and O Captain! My Captain! contain a similar scan. Both have a predominantly iambic meter. The unaccented beat followed by the accented beat creates an ascending meter. Each poem also contains notable exceptions to iambic meter, in "Hope is a Thing with Feathers", the first line Hope is the thing contains a trocheus followed by an iamb. Oh Captain! My Captain! contains even more exceptions to iambic meter. Verse 5, But O heart! Heart! Heart! it consists of an imperfect root followed by two spondees, or feet with two equally stressed syllables. Both line 6 O the blooding drops of red and line 8 Fallen cold and dead have trochaic meters with an imperfect root at the end. The rest of the poem is in iambic meter until the last two lines: Walk the deck, my Captain lies, / Fallen cold and dead. The iambic meter builds the poem up to the end, where the transition to the trochaic meter helps emphasize the conclusion of the poem. In addition to irregularities in meter, neither poem has a regular line length or rhyme scheme. Dickinson's poem contains alternating tetrameters and trimeters, except for the first line, which contains 7 syllables. The poem contains some irregular rhyme; heard in line 5 rhymes with bird in line 7 and Sea in line 10 rhymes with Me in line 12. Whitman's poem contains even more irregular line lengths. The first 4 lines of each stanza range from 12 to 15 syllables, but the last 4 lines of each stanza range from 5 to 8 syllables. Unlike Dickinson's poem, the rhyme scheme is present throughout the poem, although the AABBCDED rhyme scheme contains some instances of quasi-rhyme. Dickinson and Whitman also use similar poetic devices in "Hope is a Thing with Feathers and O Captain! My Captain! Each poem contains an extended metaphor. In Dickinson's poem, a bird clearly symbolizes hope. The first stanza introduces the metaphor of bird: Hope is the thing with feathers--/That perches in the soul. The next lines And it sings the melody without words--/And it never stops illustrate the interminable nature of the bird and hope. The second verse expands the metaphor by saying And sweetness the Galeis have heard. The song of birds, O hope, is sweetest in a storm, or troubled times. The first lines in the final stanza I have heard in the coldest land--/ And on strangest sea describe the bird, o hope, as if it were everywhere. Yet, never, in Extremity, / He asked me for a crumb show the altruistic nature of the bird; O My Captain! metaphor Basically, Abraham Lincoln is the captain of the metaphorical ship of the United States during the Civil War. The second line The ship has withstood every obstacle, the prize we sought is won means that the United States survived the tribulation of the Civil War and the citizens won the prize they sought, unity. Abraham Lincoln lies fallen, dead and cold, on the deck while the ship, the United States, does.