The line simply means that the ship's journey is nearly over and that it has survived everything that's been thrown at it during its long and arduous voyage.
"Rack" is an old-fashioned word for something that causes pain and suffering. We can imagine that there were quite a lot of racks during the epic sea voyage depicted in the poem and whose end is now being celebrated by the exultant speaker. But in the end, it's all been worth it. As the ship sails triumphantly into harbor, it's greeted by flags and bunting and vast, cheering crowds. This is truly a sight for sore eyes after such a long, hard journey at sea.
Sadly, the ship's captain will never get to see any of this, as he lies cold and dead upon the deck. His death is one rack that the ship did not weather, and arguably it is the most tragic.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45474/o-captain-my-captain
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Explain: "Our fearful trip is done. / The ship has weather'd every rack."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment