Crossing brooklyn ferry literary analysis. SparkNotes: Whitman’s Poetry: Analysis 2019-01-08

Howard Nelson, Brooklyn Ferry (Criticism)

Themes, Motifs and Symbols Themes Democracy As a Way of Life Whitman envisioned democracy not just as a political system but as a way of experiencing the world. The poet, in seeking his own physical and spiritual identity, endeavors to unite his sensibility with that of his reader. By transmitting a story, often one he has gotten from another individual, Whitman hopes to give his readers a sympathetic experience, which will allow them to incorporate the anecdote into their own history. Lists are a way for him to bring together a wide variety of items without imposing a hierarchy on them. In the sixth section, he ponders the act of writing - both his own and others'. The continuous use of repetitive imagery conveys the feeling that our existence is in fact part of an infinitely moving machine that has no purpose or destination.

SparkNotes: Whitman’s Poetry: Themes, Motifs and Symbols

Among those are the harsh weather conditions they encounter without shelter, the oncoming traffic they signal to stop, and the ever-increasing violence of daily commuters. He points out how close we are to him. People, he says, were thus ferried, they are being ferried every day and they will be ferried thus for ages to come. In the end, everything — the literary canon, Creole identity, narrative — is jumbled, chaotic, and rhizomic; in general, any attempts at decryption require the employment of multiple aforementioned methodologies. The speaker's journey between Manhattan and Brooklyn is a metaphor for the passage of time. A fine example of this is the juxtaposition of mid 19th century poet Walt Whitman, and mid 20th century poet Allen Ginsberg.

Analysis Of Allen Ginsberg 's ' Crossing The Brooklyn Ferry '

In section three, Whitman denounces people in high positions. And so he gets into the real question of his musings: how is it that we are all connected? Therefore the body is something to be worshipped and given a certain primacy. Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Crossing Brooklyn Ferry is considered one of the greatest lyrical poems of all time. Having said that, the influence of T. Unfortunately, these school zone guardians are at constant risk from the many inherent hazards of their job.

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry by Walt Whitman: Summary

The river, the ebb and flow of tides, the boat, the shuttling from one shore to the other—some of the oldest, richest images of the human imagination presented themselves to Whitman in his ferry-riding; in his daily experience he was moving among archetypes. In the third section, he reflects on people whom society honors, and argues that prizes do not affect the nature of a person's or. Whitman links the self to the conception of poetry throughout his work, envisioning the self as the birthplace of poetry. If he claims that we will see what he sees, then we must, in some sense, be the same person—so that ultimately it doesn't matter whose head he sees there in the water. Whitman largely avoids rhyme schemes and other traditional poetic devices. Living his life to the fullest and cherishing the things that he did for himself gave him an identity.

A Close Reading of Brooklyn

This sense of repetition and revisiting reinforces the thematic content of the poem, which looks at the possibility of continuity within humanity based on common experiences. Some of these such techniques are: repetition, diction, and simile. Additionally, Whitman wrote this poem at the cusp of the American Civil War, during a time when America's identity was deeply bifurcated. The poet suffered from these evil influences, as have all men. From a moral point of view, it means that there are two mutually antagonistic principles in the universe — good and evil. Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt, Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd, Just as you are refreshed by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was refreshed, Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swift current, I stood yet was hurried, Just as you look on the numberless masts of ships and the thick-stemmed pipes of steamboats, I looked. The poem describes the daily experience of a mid-nineteenth-century New York ferry-rider, mundane enough to most but glorious to Whitman.

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry by Walt Whitman: Summary

Lists are another way of demonstrating democracy in action: in lists, all items possess equal weight, and no item is more important than another item in the list. For example, leaning on the rail of a ferry is a particularly apt image of standing still and moving simultaneously and of the paradox of existing in both particular moments and a ceaseless flow of time. Man uses mangrove forest areas in many ways. As a result, a life will most likely wasted on work that gives no meaning or reward to the person. What is it that binds us? This first section establishes the setting of the poem. Whitman leaves the apprehension that the distinguishing characteristics are few.

SparkNotes: Whitman’s Poetry: Themes, Motifs and Symbols

Regardless of form, style, or language, every collection of works has served as a vehicle to document history and warn humanity about the future. The man talks about the meaning of his life to other people. This may involve shifting its views on marriage, consumerism, cultural practices and so forth. He paints a picture in words of the city and the other ships. We can help you understand Song of Myself by Whitman. This is why, acording to Stephen P.

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry by Walt Whitman: Analysis

Whitman also utilizes his favorite list technique many times in this poem. These things will exist even in a hundred years. Whitman Predicting Ginsberg Every piece of poetry examined thus far this semester has had one common underlying thread. His experience transcends the limits of the Brooklyn ferry and is universalized. He assumes that they see the same things he does, and that they react in the same way, and that this brings them together in a very real sense. Land symbolizes the physical; water symbolizes the spiritual. In the first case, the goal in life is to work hard to be accepted by the standards of others.