Walt Whitman used multiple
personifications throughout the poem. He particularly personified nature. “The
current rushing so swiftly and swimming with me far away (Stanza 2)”. He
described the current using the word swimming to describe its fast movement. Another example is, “Just
as you are refreshed by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was refreshed
(Stanza 3)”. He characterized the river’s bright and calming scenery by using
the word gladness. Whitman’s poem is in a first person narrative point of view,
but it’s particularly unique, he makes the readers feels as if they are in the
boat with him and are engaged with the environment. He vividly described the
environment surrounding the boat, some of the things he described are. “The
stretch afar growing dimmer and dimmer, the gray walls of the granite
storehouses by the docks, / On the river the shadowy group, the big steam-tug
closely flank’d on each side by the barges, the hay-boat, the belated lighter,
/ On the neighboring shore the fires from the foundry chimneys burning high and
glaringly into the night (Stanza 3)”. He brings the reader not in Manhattan,
nor Brooklyn, but his own world located in the body of water between the two
boroughs that he travels through consistently for years now. Whitman in the
last stanza asserted that he wanted the readers to join him in the journey he’s
in, “We use you, and do not cast you aside—we plant you permanently within us,
We fathom you not—we love you—there is perfection in you also (Stanza 9)”. He
used the word “We” to make it feel like the readers themselves were with him
traveling on the ferry. Whitman
not only used the word “We”, but he also used the word "you" as if he’s in a
conversation with the readers. In the first stanza, “Crowds of men and women
attired in the usual costumes, how curious you are to me! / On the ferry-boats
the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me
than you suppose (Stanza 1)”. He’s referring to the readers as part of the
crowd who are just trying to get their destination. He used the phrase “usual costume”
to say that it’s the same crowd of hundreds that are going to the same destination, all in the same shoes as the crowd of people he was riding the ferry with
yesterday.
2 comments:
I like that you gave various examples when mentioning how he personified nature, while also explaining them. I also agree with you when you mention the author’s use of the words “you” and “we.” He wants the reader to feel as though they are also part of his experience on the ferry. All of the examples you used helped further explain what you were saying about the poem.
I definitely wasn't thinking so analytically as you were. The personification of these objects are definitely precises. You explanation of the personification also made me see the writing in a different light as I did not see it at first. So thank you! :D
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