Journal #19 Whitman

Liana Laskin

English 48B

"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" by Walt Whitman

March 11, 2009

"The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it." (Whitman, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman)

Summary:

It is set during the trip home on the ferry from Manhattan after a work day has ended. What it is really about is how the human race is one and the same because of a shared common life experiences. The poem begins with the narrator noticing his settings more so than the other passengers, something he cannot understand. When the narrator shifts his attention, the focus becomes less about that group of people and more about every person that has ever taken the ferry home. The poem develops an ebb and flow rhythm (a contrast between stanzas one and two), the second section bringing in repetition. Stanza three gives a very detailed description of the ferry ride and has even more repetition, referencing the Bible and Shakespeare; nature and manmade objects are equal in description. The people on the ferry (past, present, and future) are separate and together for something bigger. Soon the two central images in the poem are revealed: seagulls and looking to the future. With the seagulls, the narrator feels split between the past and future. He refers to “dark patches” (shadows), saying that the birds are both light and dark. When he talks about people, he lumps them all together and they experience everything he does. He looks to the future, telling the reader what he thinks of them. He ends by going back strong imagery and repetition, almost as if he is chanting the lines so that the reader really gets them into their mind.

Response:

Although “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” did have one main plotline that continued throughout the entire poem, I still felt a little lost (even after having read it twice). After going online and reading through a close reading, I had a slightly better grasp of what I was reading. I liked how Whitman mentioned that everyone has a “dark patch” thrown on them as well as on himself, showing that we are all imperfect and that is just the way life is. I agree with the narrator’s observation of his fellow passengers (i.e. they are so near each, yet so distant at the same time) because when I am in a crowd of strangers, I most likely will not talk to any of them. Whitman’s comment about all of us being actors who can make their parts as big or small as they like was definitely something I understood because nobody is completely honest with the rest of the world. The frontal lobe of the human brain is what keeps us from doing that because it is the part of the brain that chooses between right and wrong. I thought about who the “dumb, beautiful ministers” might be, and decided that they were people who are still strangers to the narrator and the reader. They are “dumb” or silent because we have never spoken to them and “ministers” since they could have something to say that we might consider important to listen to. I definitely think that Whitman’s repetition of ideas does help the reader understand the poem better.