Explain how Whitman develops an extended metaphor in

his poem "O Captain! My Captain!"

Answer: The entire poem is an extended metaphor, or figurative language that implies comparison between seemingly unlike things, for the United States after the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln's assassination. In the metaphor, the captain is Lincoln, the voyage is the war and the ship is the United States.

Ship - Union

Captain - Lincoln

Fearful trip - Civil War

prize - victory