Walt Whitmen wrote this poem from a narrative point of view. Sometimes it became unclear as to what he was portraying things to be because sometimes he perceived himself to be the ferry. After reading the poem, i believe Whitmen was trying to inform his readers that they are connected in some ways and that we do not realize that. we are connected by time and space and also by the experiences that we may have. As another anonymous stranger, Whitmen wonders what he means to the crowd. do they recognize him? is he important to them? Do they think alike? Whitmen assumes that we all as human beings see the same thing, therefore we all react in the same way. " The others that are to follow me, the ties between them and me." in my opinion this refers to the future and that people will experience things that he has already experience.
While reading the poem, I noticed that Whitmen did not explain to us the reason for him crossing the river, but he describes what he does see.
The position of the ferry in this poem is the connection of the past , present, and future due to the ferry's movement of one place to another. Whitmen uses the world as a way to symbolize that there is a connection between all things. in someway, the past and the present resembles one another. he knows that someone will experience the same thing as he did while riding the ferry
1 comment:
I felt the same way you did about the poem. Although I think it's interesting that you mention the ferry is a way that Whitman uses to connect time through it's movement. I'm sure all the strangers felt the same way about each others and him the first time they took the ferry.
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