--This is an image of the view of Manhattan from Brooklyn Heights near the time of Whitman's poem.--How does Whitman envision urban experience and community through his commuter ferry ride? How is it different or similar to other urban texts we've read?
--Whitman explicitly addresses future commuters and readers, attempting to create a bond of experience that will translate across time. To what extent did you feel yourself connecting with Whitman and his description of his experience and his articulation of the self imagined through the urban commute?
Whitman’s desire to “write up America” allows his poetry to take on a ubiquitous application. His propensity to include every sensation into his poetry creates sensory empathic poetry. Whitman was writing everything into his poetry so that the visualization might be as detailed as possible. This allows the reader to step into the scenery and transcend time. The mind of the reader becomes reinserted into the original scene and see through Whitman’s mental eye. In this way I feel that Whitman’s poetry is approachable and easy to relate to. Moreover, I feel that this was intentional. The grandeur and sweep of Whitman’s subject and tone encompasses all of America, both then and now. His celebratory tone provokes the reader to cheer on the newness of America and the progress of the nation.
ReplyDelete“Crossing the Brooklyn Ferry” also seems to be a poem about the American spirit; a spirit which “avails not, time nor place-distance avails not.” The spirit is “with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence.” The pride that Whitman has in America and all that it is composed of is a feeling that is knitted into the very fabric of his poetry. The reader soon feels roped into the swirl of Whitman’s affection for a general American pride. A pride that is innately instilled within “the men and women I saw were all near to me / Others the same- others who look back on me because I / look’d forward to them.” For Whitman all that was “America” was beautiful. Consequently, it was destined to remain so forever. Generations would forever pass the torch which would burn bright forever on the fuel of American pride.
The irregularity of his meter and verse was a further demonstration of the American mindset. It throws off the prevailing theory about what poetry should be and becomes a form all its own. So too, America believes itself to be the land of freedom; a land where one can cast off conformity and regularity to become something irregular and wonderful. This is what Whitman’s poetry seems to do. It casts off the bonds off accepted poetic meter and becomes poetry that stretches across the page the way that America would stretch across the continent. Whitman’s poetry encapsulates the ideology of the American spirit through both form and content. The words on the page thus become a poetic personification of the American progressivism, especially as it was seen in the 19th century.
I actually used a ferry to get to Liberty Island when I went to New York last November. I have to have hundreds of pictures of the small trip to the island, partly because I was bored, and partly because there was something strangely majestic about it. I was in a dinky ferry amid smog-filled skies and dirty gray waters. But there was a sense of connection and history as I was traveling. This is the same feeling Whitman gets on this generally unimpressive journey on a ferry. This sense of connection with all people is apparent in the passage on page 137-138 when he says, "I too walk'd the streets of Manhattan island, and bathed in the waters around it/I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me/In the day among crowds of people sometimes they came upon me." He knows he is not the first, or last, person to cross the ferry and question whether or not the strangers are looking at him or thinking the same wonderings that he is. Whitman realizes the connection between all people on the ferry and that this connection will continue even without him or his proclamations of it. While the travel on the ferry is not exciting or original, there is something majestic about the fact that people for many years and all walks of life and situations experience the same thing.
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ReplyDeleteIn a way, the poem reminded of earlier city readings that we did in this course, as, for example "The man of the crowd" because Whitmann speaks of a curiousness toward the people who cross Brooklyn ferry every day. Theses people are all part of one large crowd and there doesnt seem to be anything particular about them, but still, the lyrical I is curious about them. Just as in "The man of the crowd" the crowd gives anonymity and the masses rush swiftly and no one sticks out individually. Nonetheless, the lyrical I feels a connection to a future commuter (or to all future commuters) because the experience he had will be similar to the one others have - the city will endure just as much as the experience will and therefore, time does not matter. The narrator has the "certainty of others" When in Poe's story, the narrator is attracted to one individual (who might not be so individual after all but more of a representation of the crowd itself), the crowd itself seems to define its members. The narrator is "one of the crowd" just as much as the future commuter he addresses.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see, however, that strictly speaking, the poem is not about the city itself but about the outskirts. These unquestionably belong to the city and show signs of the bustle of the city itself (sailors etc.) but in the stories we read earlier, city meant the inside of the city. Therefore, the poem also stands for a different kind of city population - people who work in the city but live in the surround areas such as Brooklyn Heights.
I think that Whitman is right in seeing a connection between himself (or the lyrical I) and future commuters in NYC or even any commuter in any part of the world. There is something strange about commuting because the repetition dulls the mind so much that you don't even recognize consciously what happens around you. Everything just melts into the crowd and it almost feels as if you know what the others are thinking. The people in the crowd are all disintegrated, and of course, they are all individuals, but they are also all part of a scheme.
ReplyDeleteWhitman, then, is right in saying that the experience the lyrical I has is the same as future commuters because they will have an impression of the city and even nature around them, but the impression will be a general one. Details go by unnoticed and events that happen regularly will be recognized. The seagulls that fly around the ferry of the sailors who do their work.
I also think that anybody who ever commuted in a bigger city - or even anyone who ever used public transportation - will have to agree that one adjusts to the crowd and one becomes part of it. The mass rushes swiftly and one follows without thinking.
"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" was a very interesting read for me because although I've been to Manhattan before, I've never taken a ferry anywhere. I think Nathan is right to say that numerous descriptions are meant to evoke a kind of empathy from Whitman's reader, and to help the reader identify with the poem's speaker. I was really struck by the way that Whitman constructs the speaker's identity in the poem. What he establishes in the second stanza as his "impalpable sustenance" is the idea that everyone, including himself, loses his or her identity in the "well-join'd scheme" of life (6-7). And while this disintegration makes him feel like a man of the crowd, he also acknowledges the identity of his body (62-4). The idea that humans share a common identity but should have an existence that is of their bodies is very compelling to me. The only way that I can think to describe what he's implying by repeating an idea that Maya Angelou discussed when she spoke in Jesse Auditorium last Thursday. She was entreating us (the audience) to try to be more understanding of one another and she said that the key to doing this was to approach each situation with the thought, "I am a human being. Nothing human can be alien to me." That mixing of the individual with the universal is what I think Whitman is playing with here: having an identity is allowed, as long as we remember that everyone else has an identity, too. Whitman illustrates that the nature of humans is not necessarily good or bad, and he strives to show the reader that we all have moments of unpleasantness in the sixth stanza. I feel like he's most at home in the commonly visited places of the city because it allows him to revel in the unspoken bonds that he sees there, bonds that seems to occur without interaction, only by the common nature of being human and having once visited the same spot. While this seems to be a nice view of humanity, I wonder how it stands up in real life. The long descriptions that so wonderfully allow me to imagine being on ferry boat also make this common bond between humans seem like an idle fairy tale. How do we reconcile this optimism with the reality of the poor person asking for the change of passengers getting off the ferry?
ReplyDeleteWhitman's piece differs from some of our previous readings because the separation of city and nature is less distinct. He implies that man's presence is natural even among the city's structures and crowds. Most of the texts we read in class acknowledged the city or the country only by how they contrasted one another. Crossing Brooklyn Ferry is the first to integrate the two worlds and suggest that not only can they exist together, but that they belong together.
ReplyDeleteWhitman accomplishes this with several comparisons of the city and the ocean, hills, sunset, etc. One of the most recurring comparisons though is of the city and time. This is not only another natural element combining with city life, but is also a way to acknowledge that the city will be around for generations to come. This was a sentiment that was expressed often in readings we've had of the country, but never of the city. Our first readings portrayed urban life as a fleeting attempt to conquer nature, but that ultimately nature would last time. Whitman turns this notion around by integrating man as a natural element that can exist and regenerate alongside industry. He sees growth in the city just as natural as growth in nature and does not allow them to be separate entities.
I like what Nathan said about how Whitman's language allows the reader to transcend time, thus creating a reader writer relationship. There were many times during the reading of the poem that I felt like Whitman was writing to me, and part of this was achieved through the repetition of certain phrases.
ReplyDeleteSo often, Whitman begins sentences in the same way, repeating "Others will" or "Just as" or "Look'd on" throughout entire sections. In more subtle ways, like in the first section, he has "double words" like "face to face" and hundreds and hundreds." This repetition highlights Whitman's theme of timelessness--that generations before and generations to come will experience the city.
In section three, there is repetition through alliteration: "Saw their approach, saw aboard those that were near me,/Saw the white sails of schooners and sloops, saw the ships at anchor,/The sailers at work in the rigging or out astride the spars, The round mats, the swinging motion of the hulls, the slender serpentine pennants..." Reading it aloud, it's impossible to miss the recurring "s" sound. If Whitman suggests that people in the past and future will hear the same sounds that he's hearing as he overlooks the city, than it seems fitting that the reader would experience the same sounds reading the poetry as Whitman did writing it.
Section nine ends in the repetition of exclamation marks, but I feel like this adds more to the overall tone than to the theme of eternal human experience. It’s the weaving of previously mentioned phrases in the meter of the final section that marries content and from, for example, when he brings up again the “part that looks back on the actor or actress” and the “role that is great or small according as one makes it”. So for me, it’s the repetition in this poem that allows me to go back and imagine Whitman’s experience, but also allows Whitman’s experience to be directed towards a present day audience.
Whitman effectively highlights a commonality, which can be found in all of the unrelated commuters, of both past, future, and present. He uses timeless cues, such as the sunset and the rise and fall of the tide, to emphasize the commonalities all humans share. Whitman’s repetition of “just as you” simultaneously produces feelings of brotherhood with the speaker and also singles out and addresses the reader directly. Whitman presents such a vivid picture of the commute by meticulously describing all of the different sights that could be seen. He barely passes judgment on any of the sights. He does not condemn them, or the commute, for the dirty tinge they must have taken on from the city. Similarly, he scarcely praises the sights for their beauty. He simply depicts them as they are.
ReplyDeleteBeyond Whitman’s word choice, I think the poem’s subject really speaks to a wide variety of readers, aiding him in his goal to create a bond. Having a short space of time, as one does during a commute, before entering into a work environment and a big city, definitely becomes a suitable time to meditate on one’s identity. Most people conduct themselves at least slightly differently while at work and Whitman seems to describe this change in persona, as well as the anxiety that may accompany it when it’s mused over too much.
Albert Hofmann, inventor of LSD, once said that one of the greatest tragedies in life is man's inability to recognize the extent of nature. That is to say that man has conceptualized nature to the extent that when he is within his house, or surrounded by a city, he feels removed from it. The truth of the matter, regardless of other's willingness to accept it, is that everything is ultimately of organic derivation and that nature is inescapable. Reading Whitman's poem, I felt as though he may have shared Hofmann's views regarding nature. This entire course is predicated on the notion that there exists a fine line between city and country, as if one crosses a line of demarcation when making the transition. Whitman's comparisons of natural features to the city are representative of this. I think the ferry, or the water that it crosses, are representative of the blurred line that exists between city and country. Water is most obviously a natural feature, yet the traversal of water via ship, the commerce that takes place on the water, is systemic of the sophistication that breeds cities. I think in many ways, Whitman's poem is an examination of where we draw the line between city and country, or perhaps a meditation on the phenomenological aspect of community. The importance of individual perception in making such a distinction.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, it's late, I'm super tired and mildly retarded at this point. I wrote "Whitman's comparisons of natural features to the city are representative of this" in a place where it makes no sense. What I meant is that these comparisons are an examination of the distinction between city and country.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, just in case anyone is interested, I found an online audio file of a reading of the poem. The reading is a little dry but it always helps me to hear a poem aloud. Here's a link: http://ia600309.us.archive.org/0/items/long_poems_005_librivox/crossingbrooklynferry_whitman_add_64kb.mp3
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, there were a great deal of lines in this poem that resonated with me and caused me to feel a piece of the connection Whitman was striving to achieve. Although Whitman eloquently paints a unique scene, one which I can't say I've witnessed, many of the images were broadly relatable. Specifically his description of sunlight being reflected off of water in section 3. While I have never shared the commute Whitman describes in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" I have certainly marveled at similar visual imagery and it is through this most basic sensory appeal that Whitman begins to build his connection.
From this point on the poem continued to explore relatable themes and as Whitman walked through them I found myself nodding at certain lines where I could remember a similar experience or feeling. Whitman seems to take the idea of relatable things within the human experience deeper and deeper as he goes along, yet it was done gradually enough that one does not feel completely put off or lost at any point. This exploration culminated for me, as I believe it was meant to, in section 8 with the lines "What gods can exceed these that clasp me by the hand, and with voices I love call me promptly and loudly by my nighest name as I approach?" I took this line to mean that there is no force more powerful than relating with one another in the human experience, and I believe Whitman has supported this claim well with the numerous examples he provides up until this point in the poem.
Whitman’s description of his experience leaves me questioning exactly what he was trying to say, and whom he was directing it towards. He certainly assumes that his experience will transcend generations, and that others will experience the same things he does. In fact, the beginning of the third section speaks to that very point. Also, at the beginning of section five, he asks, “What is that count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?” answering, “Whatever it is, it avails not—distance avails not, and place avails not” going on to talk about his own personal experiences in Manhattan, etc. There seems to be more questioning in that statement, though, because Whitman knows that he has had a much different experience than the generations before him. I think he takes solace in the fact that the experiences are different, but the place, crowds, etc. are still the same.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, his whole discussion also assumes that he is aware of alternate experiences of other people who look upon a similar scene of the crowd, and the harbor, the city, and everything else. This appears to be positive, if only because he lists a broad enough range of things in section nine that travelers/commuters could possibly see and experience to connect all of humanity together. But, I am not sure that I personally understand what he is trying to say. He reaches out to connect humanity in some way, and I get that, but maybe I get lost in his attempts to connect humanity in some greater meaning based on shared experience. For example, on campus I can walk pass the Columns a million times and not think anything of it (having been here long enough), but when relatives and friends come to visit, they really want to go see the Columns and enjoy the experience. Or, I think of the first time I went to see the Arch in St. Louis. A lot of people are wowed by its symbolism and architecture, but my experience was much different. The meaning is different, the experience is different, so does humanity connect by merely experiencing something similar or must that experience be the same? Whitman seems to leave that open for interpretation.
I see the use of the urban commute as a vehicle Whitman uses to convey his point (or questions, in my case). The idea of the urban commute has existed to this day, which legitimizes this poem in the sense of looking at today’s world. People who ‘cross Brooklyn ferry’ today can relate and see many of the same things Whitman does, which does tie him together with future generations. But, how unique can one make an abstract thing like experience in an effort to connect it to another person’s experience?
Although I've only taken a ferry occasionally on vacation to visit small islands, I have taken the water taxi in Chicago numerous times. There's something relaxing about being on the water, away from the hustle and bustle of the streets. I definitely prefer it to taking a cab, bus or the L when possible.
ReplyDeleteI felt that I could relate to Whitman's interest in the ferry and the people he saw. Although it was not a glamourous trip, he respected the ferry. He was clearly curious about the other people who would make the same trip. The common bond of commuting is something that almost everyone shares at one point or another. I find few places better for people watching than public transportation.
He focuses on commonalities that will go unchanged with time such as sunrise and sunset and the crowds so that past, current and future commuters can relate to the narrator and each other.
-Emily David
I really enjoyed this poem. Whitman is poetic, but prose-like enough for his words to be read with ease. I like how he plays with the ideas of the individual versus collective humanity. He uses numerous minute details to express his thoughts about the ferry ride and lots of them are very visual. Section 3, lines 33-36 all start with "look'd" and detail the water and the surrounding landscape. Whitman especially expresses his thoughts on what other people will notice around them and not just him self. He is talking about humanity as a whole in this way. In section five he says "What is then between us?/ What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?/ Whatever it is, it avails not - distance avails not, and place avails not." Here Whitman is saying that while all of the things he is experiencing are exclusive to just himself, there are people who came before him and who will come after him and have the same experience. There is something that connects all of humanity, though he seems to not have the answer as to what it is.
ReplyDeleteThis brings up a question in my mind. Everyone experiences things a little bit differently based on their personal thought, beliefs, morals, etc. But can we really have 'individual' experiences if we're all riding the same ferry, staring at the same body of water and the same landscape?
Whitman is aware that other people are having different experiences around him on the ferry, but maybe some of them don't care at all. Maybe they're rushed and busy and not paying attention. Are they having an experience at all?
I happened to live in the financial district a block from the Governor's Island Ferry (I believe this used to be known as “The Brooklyn Ferry”) this past summer. It's a free 30-minute ferry ride, so anytime someone came to visit I would take him or her on it. It goes right past the Statue of Liberty, which I'm surprised Whitman doesn't mention in his poem. I saw the gulls, the summer sun reflecting on the water, the masses of people going to-and-from work and I've watched all the boats on the water. But as much as I have seen everything he talks about, I don't think it's about this literal interpretation. It is about joining two people across time and across experiences. Part of it is about individuals among a group, which a lot of the posts have covered already. I want to focus on its other part: about being so mystified with something that all you can do is take in the details.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I thought that this poem couldn’t be about anything but this specific experience. But then I thought about the excitement I had my first time riding that ferry. I’ve had that kind of excitement for things before. I don’t think I could have put it into words as nicely as WW does it. I think this type of experience is best reflecting in the section that start’s with “Flow on, river! Flow with the flood-tide…” It’s really climactic. It’s written in a rallying way, with demands and exclamation points.
I really related to this portion: “…I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me / In the day among crowds of people sometimes they came upon me, / In my walks home late at night or as I lay in my bed they came upon me…” I can definitely relate to this, having lived in the most exciting city in the world. But I think this can apply to everyone and any exciting situation.
Whitman explains his urban experience as a fantastical journey through the concrete jungle seeing people and buildings that have been in existence since different generations than his own. “And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.” The people that he encounters every day on the ferry and throughout the city are the people that make his city/urban experience worth the while. He is curious about the people who are going from shore to shore, are the life him? He wonders, are thee all being the best actors and actresses they can be to form the life/story they want to live?
ReplyDeleteI think Whitman’s poem is different from other texts we’ve read because this isn’t about one specific experience he’s had. This is about something he experiences every day, and every day he notices something new or different about the people and the city, which is why he had such a vast perspective on all that walk the city life in New York.
It is hard for me to connect with Whitman in this particular poem (and many of his others) because I am not a commuter, nor have I ever been on the ferry or even to New York. However, because of his perfect imagery I can imagine myself on the ferry and within the depths of the city and being just as curious and interested in the people as he. He imagines himself as a powerful being throughout the city, “Sound out, voices of young men! loudly and musically call me by my nighest name!” He is so proud and excited to be in the city that he wants to be known and heard from all. Whitman’s poem shows love for the urban environment, and I think this is the happiest/most entertaining piece of city literature we had touched on thus far.
Whitman takes me on a breathtaking trip through the ferry. I actually listened to it, as opposed to reading it (thanks, Evan), and I think actually hearing it really solidified the bond for me.
ReplyDeleteI often wonder if I'm the only person who, when going places, traveling down roads, walking down streets, wonders who else as traveled the same roads, walked down the same paths, and what walks of life they've come from. I personally share an interest in looking at old pictures of cities (there's a series of books that compare pictures of my hometown, Kansas City, from the 19th and early-20th century to photos of today) just to see what it was like to walk the streets then as opposed to now.
The connection felt with Whitman was absolutely impeccable, and the poem even does the reader (or listener) one better, as not only does Whitman let the person know that "Yes, I too have been here", but also paints a vivid picture of the actual setting, so in theory, you never really have to go to the ferries yourself—you can sit in the comfort of your own dorm room, and go on the voyage with Whitman.
After reading Whitman’s “Crossing the Brooklyn Ferry” I feel that he succeeded in connecting with people from different generations. Experiencing nature is something that everyone can relate to and by acknowledging that in his work, Whitman prevails. Though the only ferry I was ever on was a spring break trip in high school, to get from Athens to Italy, there is something peaceful about being out on the water and that connection to nature. This type of experience actually lets passengers into nature as a means of transportation. The ride is slow but Whitman does not view this as a bad thing because it allows for time for not only him but others as well to admire their surroundings. Even though this is a city poem, the beginnings are relatable to some sublime pieces we have read in the country section of this class. Whitman talks about the overwhelming feeling of being intrigued by not only nature but also the mass of people on the ferry and the feeling that even though we are all individuals everyone is connected in a “well-join’d scheme”. Having read this poem in another class we talked about how this particular feeling has probably diminished over the years because after Whitman had written this poem, the Brooklyn Bridge was built which allowed for a faster commute and ultimately a loss of this connection that Whitman described while taking the ferry.
ReplyDeleteInevitably, Whitman's poetry is very rich in details and description. What I would like to point out here is the rather interesting way in which the progression of the poem is reflective of commuting in a city.
ReplyDelete"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" begins in much the same way much of Whitman's poetry does, that is, with an abundance of exclamatory declarative statements. But the progression of the poem is something to note. Up to the 6th stanza, Whitman describes the wonderfulness of the city. There is, however, a shift in the 6th stanza. It is markedly more negative in tone where the "dark patches" fall. The unfortunate aspects of the city are explored until he reformulates his discussion in stanzas 7 and 8. Finally, in 9, he returns to his beloved exclamation point, and joyously returns himself and the reader back into the fold of (positively portrayed)humanity. "The same old role"(83) turns out to not be as bad as he thought.
Noticing details of things around you during a commute is a common enough experience for us city-folk, I think. You may notice a change to something, or something missing, and as you sit on a bus, or train, you inevitably ponder unsolvable existential questions (maybe not explicitly, but the feeling does come over you). Why do we think about these things? Because we're bored.
I think, however, this experience is now a less common phenomenon. We have smartphones etc. Before constant communication (like say early 2000s, 90s), an experience like Whitman's wasn't all that uncommon, at least from what I can gather. I'm not bemoaning technology and a decline in society, just to make that clear. All I'm pointing out is that we aren't as bored to tears as we used to be, and thus don't really find amusing ourselves by thinking the kind of things Whitman writes about very entertaining on the bus.