O Captain, My Captain: Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil War

Burleigh tells the story of the poet and of the president he so admired, sprinkling quotes from Whitman and lines of his poetry throughout: “Walt saw everything: the tall and lanky body, the dark complexion, the ‘wrinkled and canny-looking’ face.” Passages explore the invisible threads connecting the two men, including their compassion for Civil War soldiers, antipathy of slavery, and abiding love for their wounded nation. Burleigh also dramatizes the moment when, overcome with emotion after Lincoln’s assassination, Whitman creates the well-known poem: “O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done.” Hundley’s striking art blends naturalistic portraiture with contrasting shadowy blues and fiery oranges and renders Lincoln as giantlike in stature, visually emblematizing the president’s enormity of character and influence. An emotionally and historically resonant homage to two kindred spirits. Ages 10–up. (Apr.)