After wrapping up our discussion about “The Heiress,” we moved on to the topic of poetry. We started out with the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. This was a good introductory piece, since most of us were familiar with it, and, therefore, could discuss the style in which it is written.
For this blog, we were asked to read the poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” by Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman was a famous NY poet, widely known for his vivid depictions of Manhattan during the 1800’s. In this poem, Whitman describes the views and various people that are riding with him from Brooklyn to Manhattan. He is very intrigued about the crowd, dressed in their costumes (attire) going to or home from their various jobs around the city. He is very curious about how these people interact as a crowd, and how everyone seems to be “tied together.” All of a sudden, it seems to occur to him that all of these people are related because they, as well as their ancestors before and after them, will have crossed that same river at one time or another. He feels this simple shared experience bonds them. I would never have thought of that! While there is no single “Brooklyn Ferry” today, there are several ferries that run people into and out of Manhattan from various places. Anyone who has taken a ride on the Staten Island Ferry, for example, has experienced the same views, clouds, sunset, birds overhead, or swooshing of the water. While the people change, the common experience remains the same. Little has changed since the poem was written all those years ago, and little is expected to change in the future.
After reading this poem, a classic disco song, “Native New Yorker,” immediately popped into my head. I find it to be quite similar to what Whitman was describing about NYC. The song starts off, “You grew up ridin’ the subway, running with people, up in Harlem down on Broadway.” It continues, throughout the song, to point out all of the common experiences of being a native New Yorker. It is a bond of experiences among total strangers.
