Reading Response by Shamekia Lyons

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry by Walt Whitman is a poem about a man taking the ferry on the East River from Manhattan to Brooklyn during the mid-nineteenth century. Whitman speaks from a narrative point of view and makes things unclear as to what and who he is portraying to the reader. There were times where he perceived to be the ferry himself and other times where he seemed to have projected himself into the future. He became everything that surrounded him and whatever he saw.
In my opinion Whitman shows the reader that humans are connected by their shared experiences in life. The speaker of the poem says “The others that are to follow me, the ties between them and me.” Which refers to the future, where people will experience what he has. Whitman doesn’t explain the speakers reasoning for crossing the river, he solely focuses on the scenery: the water, the people, the sun, the boats and the city within eye view. Reading this poem was almost watching a painting being made, Whitman’s ability to show visual imagery, jumped out of the page at me and took me to that day when he rode that ferry as if I too was a passenger.
“It avails not, neither time or place- instance avails not, I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence, I project myself also- I return.” The speaker sees himself as well as others to be equal. That no amount of time and space can diminish what humans can share bringing them closer together? The speaker also undergoes a period where he spiritually becomes one with himself and the universe. Using his body as a place where the two cross making him whole. “I too had received identity by my body. That I was I knew was of my body. And what should I be, I knew I should be of my body.” Perhaps the shared experiences of emotion between humans doing a similar act relates to the physical realm of the body which mentally keeps humans connected. Whitman seemed to believe that everyone saw the world the way he perceived it. The Ferry in my opinion, almost seems to symbolize the connection of past/present due to its continuous movement from one place to another. Allowing the experience to be similar to all who are aboard it. Whitman seems to symbolize the universe as this huge connection between all things and that we are all equal. He knows that from years from now the sunset and the waves will still exist. That the future and the past seem to somehow reassemble one another. He glorifies the things around him and seems to be positive all the time. The speaker loves everything about the world no matter the size it could be big or small. The speaker knew that change was inevitable especially living in a time period post the Civil War. That moment on the ferry that he experienced at some point in time he knew someone else would. That even in times of change and negativity someone else would still be able to someday find peace and unity riding the ferry as did he.