Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

Sing Ruby Siu
English 48B
March 12, 2009
Journal #19 Walt Whitman

QUOTE:

“What is it then between us? What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?/ Whatever it is, it avails not – distance avails not, and place avails not” (23).

SUMMARY:
In the first few sections of the poem, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” Whitman purposefully depicted the setting of the scene, where he stood on the shore and saw many passengers of the crossing-harbor ferry. He predicted an eternal picture and a law of nature, of those he talked to readers from the future about the similarities between him and the readers. He exclaimed and realized the universal nature and union of mankind as part of the nature, and he talked about how each of them will go through the process of life similarly. In this quote, he stressed that there was neither distance nor time between them due to the monotonous and harmonious function of human race as a whole, as a part of universe.

RESPONSE:

From Cliff Notes, Whitman “declares that neither time nor place really matter, for he is part of this generation and of many generations hence.” This shows that Whitman recognized himself as just a tiny one in the vast current of human generations, and he wished to tell every human being in the future about his common experience. By establishing an intimate relationship with the future human beings, Whitman achieved two objects.

First, Whitman reassured the future generation about the similarities between the history and the future. He wanted to show the future people that almost everyone would go through the same things in life, and he as a past passenger of life for sure was a sample or demonstration for the future passengers. By taking the prophetic role, Whitman kindly foretold the unchangeable humanity and warned the future men that, no matter what people met, history always acted as a good, reflective mirror for assessment and prediction. Whitman took an active role in informing and notifying the future generations about the relationship and development between different generations of human beings.

Also, Whitman wished to discuss about the existence of mortals as a part of universe. Future generations should neither be boastful nor ashamed of their human nature, because they are not more advanced, nor degenerated. The circumstances or development of the world might change a bit, but the human behavior and law of nature would stay the same. Through depicting how similar human beings were alike, Whitman portrayed a picture of the eternal universe and an insignificance of human efforts. From the pessimistic side, no matter how long human beings had strived for advancement and improvement in physical shapes, life quality and knowledge, all people would still go through some similar stages of fate. The physical existences of human beings were not acknowledged by the universe as rare and precious, because the continuous breeding of men obviously did not open up new opportunities and experience for men; their lives would pass and end in a similar way.