Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

In the poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" by Walt Whitman, there are many recurring images and motifs that can be seen. Whitman develops these images throughout the course of the poem. The most dominant of these are the linear notion of time, playing roles, and nature. By examining these motifs and tracing their development, one's understanding of the poem becomes intensely deepened. Whitman destroys the linear subsistence of time by connecting past with future. This can be seen in the first stanza, as the poem opens: "And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more to me, and more in my meditations than you might suppose"(4-5). This lets the reader know that Whitman has written this with the reader in mind, even before that reader existed. He challenges time by connecting his time with ours. He has predicted us reading this poem. When we read Whitman’s words, we are connected to his vision and his feelings during the time of his existence. In a way, time and space are warped so that while reading this poem they don’t exist as they do in reality. He is undoubtedly confident

(113-115) He tells the sea-birds to hold onto the beauty of nature, which they are a part of. They, unlike humans, do not look with down casting eyes. Nature is the one constant for Whitman that does not change. In a sense, it is perfection. It is the everlasting source of life, which will remain long after our lives are through: "Fifty years hence,/A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred years hence, other will see"(17-18). It has stayed the same then, now, tomorrow, and beyond: "These and all else were to me the same as they are to you"(49). As humans we accept it for what it is. We do not look at it as we do humans. We should look at humans this way - as perfect, pure, no masks, not playing a role. By examining these motifs and tracing their development, the poem itself becomes clearer to the reader. We learn that Whitman developed this poem with the idea it would be read hundreds of years later. It is apparent that there is a connection between people and their roles, nature, and time. As times goes on, thus nature goes on. People continue to hide behind roles, unable to be as that of nature--unjudging. Nature will continue to exist as the people around it continue to stay the same, hurrying along in the masses oblivious to the wonders around them. The speaker of the poem is unlike other humans in his detailed observation of his surroundings.

that after he is gone the water will still run and people will still "see the shipping of Manhattan/and the heights of Brooklyn" (14-15). He makes his past and our future all one. No matter neither the time nor the distance, the reader will have an experience similar to what Whitman experiences at the moment in time in which he resides: 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 refresh’d by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was" (23-26).

This same motif follows through to the next stanza, as he continues to emphasize how things are the same to him as they are to those of us interpreting the poem. By tracing this motif, we see that no matter where we are or how far away from Brooklyn and Manhattan, the images that Whitman saw will live on long after his passing. This deepens the understanding of the poem and assists the reader to comprehend Whitman’s state of reasoning when composing this poem. He, in fact, was writing this poem to be read long after he was gone. He "consider’d long and seriously of you before you were born" (88). He realized that certain constants would stay the same, including people and the roles they take in their lives. In stanza six, the idea of playing roles develops:

Some topics in this essay:
Brooklyn Manhattan, Walt Whitman, unlike humans, Ferry” Uncovered, playing roles, examining motifs tracing, , tracing development, motifs tracing development, people roles, hundred hence, people continue, roles nature, poem read, examining motifs, understanding poem,