Everything about “O Captain! My Captain!” is Romantic and classical. The poem’s meter is iambic, it follows a set heroic couplet rhyme scheme, and all the stanzas follow the same visual format, structure, and a nearly identical syllable count. Therefore, the form of the poem is traditional and classical, matching the seriousness of the moment. Additionally, the imagery of the ship, the captain, and the unnamed speaker who looks exalts the subject of the poem has an antiquated, almost mythological feel to it. Finally, the directness of the metaphor and allegorical way the narrative unwinds feels timeless. The timeless, antiquated, and Romantic nature of the poem mirrors another famous poem: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1798). The comparison places this Whitman poem in the realm of traditional verse, which is unique for Whitman since most of his poetry was free verse and considered highly experimental for his time.

One reason the poem has remained popular is because of the blunt nature of its narrative.