O Captain! My Captain! (dana fucich)

First thing I think of when I read, "Walt Whitman’s presence within American mass (or popular) culture," is:

 

"Oh captain, my captain, you've been drinking, what happened?"

And even if my musical tastes have changed since high school, I still respect Keith Buckley (he would be the "lyricist/vocalist") for referencing literature in his lyrics and being his own kind of poet (he used to be an English teacher and has a BA) and, specifically, for taking one man's creativity and giving it relevance to his own.  

The other times I've seen "O Captain, My Captain," referred to in a contemporary setting is always in a matter that is mocking Dead Poet's Society.  Family Guy and How I Met Your Mother both use the quote in this way, to imitate the DPS scene for humor, kind of separating the purpose of these shows from the author.  Whitman may be detached from the initial understanding of these moments in both shows, but to those of us who get the "joke" it isn't much of one...

The Family Guy clip can be viewed here, I couldn't find the How I Met Your Mother clip.