The Photographic History of The Civil War: in ten volumes, Thousands of Scenes Photographed 1861-65, with Text by many Special Authorities, Volume 9: Poetry and Eloquence.
Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ed.

---

[256]

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 ribboned 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 anchored 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,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

---

Ode recited at the Harvard commemoration

The ode from which the two strophes below are selected is in some respects the highest achievement thus far in American literature. James Russell Lowell, who had already made his name in letters by the Yankee humor of the Biglow papers, had since 1855 been Smith Professor of modern Languages in Harvard University. It was very natural, therefore, that he should be selected to write the official ode for the commemoration services held by Harvard College on July 21, 1865, for its sons who had fallen during the war. After his acceptance of the honor he tried in vain to write the poem. Only two days before the celebration he told one of his friends that it was impossible, that he was dull as a

---