Walter “Walt” Whitman
Bio
Walter
“Walt” Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in Long Island, New York and grew up in
Brooklyn. He contracted a love for writing when he was twelve years old. He
taught himself how to read and write through Homer’s, Dante’s and Shakespeare’s
work. Throughout Whitman’s life he worked as a printer, teacher, journalist,
editor, poet, and clerk for the Department of the Interior. In addition to these
jobs, he helped people who were wounded in the Civil War. He stayed in the
state of New York the majority of his life and died in Camden, New Jersey on
March 26, 1892. Some of his most noted works were Leaves of Grass (1855) and Good-bye,
My Fancy (1891). He is considered the father of free-verse. You can read more about
Walt Whitman at http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/126.
Summary
Section 1: Whitman is very observant about the ferry
itself, its passengers, and the surrounding scenery.
Section 2: Whitman senses a connection between all of
those going about their daily routines. People will continue to use the ships
as transportation over the river and will continue to enjoy them. Whitman
thinks the rivers and ships will be used for the rest of life in New York City.
Section 3: He describes the environment and atmosphere.
He describes how the water and birds in the sky look, as well as the kinds of
ships, their parts, and their laborers. He also describes how the ships move
through the ports and across the river.
Section 4: He states again the connection and unity
between himself and people around him. “Others the same…” meaning people in the
future will look back at the moment he is currently living. (They will learn
the history of the ferries.)
Section 5: He asks his readers what the connection is
between them despite the hundreds of years.
Section 6: Whitman starts writing about his darker
times, when he made less honest decisions. He knows he was among the worst
people, morally. Before he changed, his life was dull, monotonous, and had no
variety.
Section 7: Even though section 7 was very short, what
do you think Whitman was trying to portray to his audience?
Section 8: Whitman believes the nature of Manhattan
is the most majestic view and that no scenery could be better.
Section 9: Whitman wants to bask in the beauty of
nature around him. He wants the mind to be conscious and the city to provoke
emotion. He wants to see animation and liveliness in the objects around him,
such as the chimneys, birds, and sun.
Questions
1. What is the tone of section 3? What feelings does
Whitman convey?
2. Section 5 – Does he mean everyone is literally related
to one another and we share the same lineage? Or, does he mean that his
readers, however many years in the future, will still have a connection to
him? Is there another kind of connection?
3. Even though section 7 was very short, what do you
think Whitman was trying to portray to his audience?
4. Section 9, last stanza – “You have waited, you always
wait, you dumb, beautiful ministers" Why does he call them dumb? Who are
the ministers?
5. What are some archaic words throughout this poem? Was
there any repetition that you noticed?
6. What are some of your favorite images Whitman
describes?
7. Was there anything that confused you?
8. Do you think the purpose of this poem is to influence
your opinion of New York, or did Whitman just want to narrate his
experiences and emotions of New York? Do you think there is another
purpose?
In response to question 8 I got multiple objectives from Whitman's poem when I read it. Obviously poetry is up for a lot of interpretation, but I believe that Whitman talks about his experience in New York, he uses a lot of beautiful and vivid imagery of the water and boats to depict how much he loves the scenery. He also talks about that these experiences are stuff of history and what he will always love about New York. However, I believe that Whitman makes his connection to the other passengers for a reason. i feel that he is trying to say basically, "Look we are all experiencing the same thing, but we are all different and will take away from New York different memories and ideas. Whitman portrays all of these passengers as almost the same, or at least experiencing the same situation. Although, I believe Whitman gave all of these people he meets a sense of individuality as well throughout the poem. This individuality is what shows that they all will experience the beauty of New York differently.
ReplyDeleteI could be completely wrong. But throughout reading this poem that is what I really took away as the main idea.
I agree--probably he wanted to do all of these things. Anyone who has written poetry, or any kind of creative piece, knows that it is hard to get people to "see" what you want them to see, or what you see. You hope you can, but eventually (after you've written enough) you realize that they will also see what they want to see or what they can see, based on their experience. And that is OK too--it is the reason literature is a living thing, instead of a historical placemat.
DeleteIn response to question 2, I believe that Whitman is trying to say that however many years in the future, will still have a connection to him. If you go back to section 3, he talks a lot about being connected with people over many generations and seeing and feeling the same things as them. He does not literally see them as being related, just as being connected through the circle of life. The idea of this circle can be seen when he states “I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution”. The solution represents all spiritual life from which physical life emerges. We all start in the same place and go back to the same place through our spirits. What I found most interesting as he described the things that he was seeing was the fact that he included both natural and man-made elements. If he is connected to generations of the past as well as those of the future through what he is seeing, then the man-made elements would not have been present. Likewise, in the future they are bound to change. I believe that this connects to the “to-and-fro” movement of the poem. When he describes the ferry going from land to sea and then back to land, I think he is talking about the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds. The natural elements represent the spiritual world, which is pure and constant, and the man-made elements represent the physical world, which is constantly changing. People are connected through the movement between worlds and the idea that as someone dies another person is born. This kind of relates to question 3, which asks about section 7. At this point in the poem the role between the reader and poet switch place and he is now the one looking down and watching us living on earth. We know this because he says, “Who knows, for all the distance, but I am as good as looking at you now, for all you cannot see me?”. I believe this idea of spiritual connection is something important that he is trying to stress throughout the poem.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! This gets a 10: it interprets, it quotes from the text, it expands on the question, not simply answers it, and it generates connections to other parts of the reading.
DeleteIn response to question 2, I believe that Whitman is saying that we are all connected no matter how much time passes. He talks about how future generations will stand in the same places he has and see many of the same sights; which shows a physical connection between him and future generations. He goes further to say, "Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt," providing further an emotional connection. The way he describes what he sees and feels when in the city really shows that he loves New York, and I think he believes that future generations will feel similarly, which provides this idea of everyone being connected. He continues to compare himself to future generations stating that he too lived in Brooklyn and he too walked the streets of Manhattan. However, I feel like the connection is even deeper than that, because having been to New York as a tourist I started to feel a connection to Whitman, just because I have seen the city. I think the connection extends to humans in general because in our life time we will have similar experiences.
ReplyDeleteI would like to respond to questions 1 and 6.
ReplyDeleteIn a passage that I find pretty, Whitman describes seagulls. It is in section 3 that he writes of them high up in the air, floating. How he writes about the light and shadows highlighting them as they fly in slow wheeling circles make them appear graceful and maybe majestic. The rest of section 3 goes on to describe more things affected by the light. He continues with such things as the reflection of the summer sky in the water, flags falling at sunset, and scallop-edged waves at twilight. He describes the setting approaching night, becoming dimmer and dimmer until eventually fires from chimneys replace the light of the sun, with flares of wild red and yellow. He also describes many shapes and sizes of boats on the water, and is descriptive of their activities.
I don’t know if this scene would be this nice if actually seen in real life, but I feel that the way this is written is also connected to the tone of the section. It is evident that Whitman is very emotionally attached to crossing the river and its environment, and I think that he loves it so much, that he has to share his awe and joy with others. He speaks to readers who have made the same journey as he, but not necessarily in his same time period. His words also take readers who have not followed in his footsteps to their own encounter crossing the Brooklyn Ferry. As I said before, I’m not so sure that this scene is as idyllic as what is spoken of, but by not seeing and only imagining, we can make it what we want it to be. The tone of section 3 can be sad as well as joyous because Whitman is writing in a past tense, almost implying a wistfulness of not actually being there. But, he still writes as if he is there, because to him “It avails not, time nor place—distance avails not, I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence.” To him the crossing will be forever timeless.
Love this quote: "I’m not so sure that this scene is as idyllic as what is spoken of, but by not seeing and only imagining, we can make it what we want it to be." What good language does! Have you even been disappointed after seeing a version of something on tv or in a movie, because you imagined it so differenlty, so much richer?
DeleteI would like to expand upon a comment I made in class, concerning the transcendentalist feel that Walt Whitman’s, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” had. The transcendentalist movement began in the nineteenth century. It was a literary, political, and philosophical movement that was centered on the workings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Goodman, 1). The basis of the movement was the concept that society is willing to submissively conform to fit the mold of the status quo, if you will, of society at that time (Goodman, 1). Emerson believed that one should find an “original relationship with the universe” (Goodman, 1).Emerson sought this relationship through the beauty and, “solitude of nature” (Goodman, 1). Furthermore, Emerson believed that there was a unity of all beings or souls with God, nature and humanity (Goodman, 2). This connection was termed the oversoul (Goodman, 2).
ReplyDeleteWhitman, wrote his poem, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” in the time in which this movement was occurring. As a result, many aspects of this poem have transcendental elements. For example, Whitman speaks extensively of the river. He ties the concept of the river to the idea of passing time which, both of which, continually progresses. This is consistent with the idea that there is a unity of man to the natural world around him. In a specific example, Whitman states, “I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence” (Whitman, 139). This quote showcases one of the main ideas of this poem, which is the idea that we have all been and always will be connected in some way to all of mankind, regardless of time or space. Whitman suggests that this connection is of the spiritual realm. He also suggests that we all have the ability to appreciate the beauty that is all around us and to perceive the world with a new optimism and appreciation regardless of how much time has passed. He suggests that we perceive beauty in much the same way across scores of time, and this connects us. This idea ties into the concept of being linked across time in the transcendental oversoul. Moreover, Whitman’s poem creates an original relationship with the universe. It is one which Whitman wants to share with his readers for centuries to come in the hopes that they will take on this new view of the world and become one with the oversoul.
Source: http://plato.stanford.edu/search/searcher.py?query=transcendentalism
Great post: This gets a 10: you bring in outside sources to further illuminate the issue, make a stronger connection between what we've read and a larger world view, extend what was discussed in class to further our understanding of an issue (shows continuity, paying attention, etc), and quote the text. Good!
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