LITR 5535: American Romanticism

Student Presentation on Reading Selections, fall 2003

Selection Reader:  Theresa Matthews

Recorder:  Emily Islam

4 November 2003

Presentation:  Walt Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”

We will be addressing issues from the following objectives:

            Objective 1a :  Romantic Genres :  The romance narrative (quest towards transcendence)

            Objective 1b :  Romantic Spirit or Ideology : Transgressing psychological boundaries

            Objective 1c :  The Romantic Period :  The co-emergence of Romanticism with the rise of the city

            Objective 2 : Cultural Issues :  Individualism and sentimental nature in American society :  The American identity as a spiritual mission.

“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”

On the literal level, Whitman is ferrying between Brooklyn and Manhattan.  In his crossing, he relates to the audience his sensory experience of the sights and sounds of the river and the city.  This is the first time in our studies of Romanticism that we see an enthusiastic merger between city and nature.  Whitman melds the scene of the city with the scene of nature so that the two compliment each other, “The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings, on the walk in the street and the passage over the river, The current rushing so swiftly and swimming with me far away…” (1062).  Whitman’s sensory experience includes both images of city and nature to create an exuberant occurrence that he shares with the reader.

This experience leads Whitman to a new level of awareness of humanity.  I see this experience as a variation of correspondence:  microcosm and macrocosm.  The microcosm is the individual, “ The impalpable sustenance of me from all things at all hours of the day, The simple, compact, well-join’d scheme, myself disintegrated, every one disintegrated yet part of the scheme”  Whitman uses catalogs to reveal the small realm of individuality, the carnal world in which we all live.  Yet, he also implies that a macrocosm of humanity exists.  The macrocosm of humanity is the scheme of life, the realm of providence; it is spiritual, eternal, existing in the past, present, and future.  This typifies the Romantic notion of transgressing psychological boundaries.  The poet is hinting at an escape from the here and now, and a transcendence to a realm of spirituality.

Question:  Does Whitman stray to far from the idea of separateness from society, or does he maintain the notion of individuality in this poem?

Whitman uses parallelism to initiate an emotional bond between the audience and the poet ,“Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt, Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd, Just as you are refresh’d by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was refresh’d…” (1062). Through sensory images the reader and poet unite to transcend time, place, and distance, “It avails not, time nor place—distance avails not” (1062).  This same passage demonstrates sentimentalism.  According to the Bedford Glossary, sentimentalism places an emphasis on feeling rather than reason.  Whitman asks his audience not to reason, or to logically think through this journey with him, but to use emotions, feelings, and intuitiveness. 

In section 6, Whitman identifies that part of humanity that we can identify as “spiritual”.  It is that side of human nature that is dark, and greedy, and lurid. He catalogs the evil side of his humanness, “Nor is it you alone who knows what it is to be evil, I am he who knew what it was to be evil, I too knitted the old knot of contrariety, Blabb’d, blush’d, resented, lied, stole, grudg’d…”(1063). The reader identifies with these secret dark thoughts and begins to comprehend the spiritual connection between themselves and the poet.  These are thoughts that we usual do not share with anyone, except maybe a priest in a confession. Yet, Whitman confides in us, and lets us know that we are not “alone” in our evil nature. 

Finally, in section 8, the poet reaches the most intimate moment with the reader, which is the macrocosm of the universal identity, as he claims, “Which fuses me into you now, and pours my meaning into you?  We understand then do we not?” (1064). The poet and reader achieve transcendence through the understanding of a universal identity that can only be attained through the realm spirituality.

Question:  How does the poem expand on or conform to the genre of the quest? 

Final thoughts, Whitman uses the ferry as a controlling image throughout the poem.  It is a metaphor that reinforces the idea that past, present, and future humanity is cyclic, eternal.  Kimberly Jones remarks that “Whitman is establishing a relationship with humanity in regard to the circle of life and human existence.”  The literal function of the ferry itself promotes and solidifies the idea that the connection between humanity is a universal identity.

Question:

In the Bedford Glossary, under the term Romantic Period, I read the definition of transcendentalism.  It reads that a transcendentalists maintains that each person is innately divine, with the intuitive ability to discover higher truths.  What are the higher truths Whitman propagates in this poem?

Class Comments:

Question:  Does Whitman stray to far from the idea of separateness from society, or does he maintain the notion of individuality in this poem?

*Dr. White:  He is insistent that he shares my existence.

*Theresa:  He says we have to be part of the mass, humanity, but keep our individuality.

*Nancy:  Houston is a romantic city, being part of the masses is romantic, the lights, theaters, etc.  Nature is gone, and we must communicate with each other.

*Yvonne:  The river remains constant forever.

*Dr. White:  The river is time.

*Dr. White:  Whitman is like Emerson, “I am part and parcel of all that surrounds me.”

*Thomas:  He transcends while maintaining individuality.

Question:  How does the poem expand on or conform to the genre of the quest?

*Dr. White:  It’s hard to figure out where we have landed.

*Emily M.:  Maybe the questions are, “What are you trying reach – everyone is different.”

*Dr. White:  The conclusion is anticlimactic. 

*Sheila:  He pulls you to him and separates you over and over.

*Mary:  Maybe he was trying to suggest the personality we share with others is a mask that we present that is filtered through society—we project what we want to be.

*Dr. White:  Whitman tries everything.  He wants to make you feel rather than think.

*Theresa:  The ferry is symbolic of transcendence.  It is the connection between the microcosm and the macrocosm of humanity. 

Question:

In the Bedford Glossary, under the term Romantic Period, I read the definition of transcendentalism.  It reads that a transcendentalists maintains that each person is innately divine, with the intuitive ability to discover higher truths.  What are the higher truths Whitman propagates in this poem?

*Dr. White:  Whitman is not from New England, but was influenced by Emerson.  He is sometimes called a transcendentalist but sometimes not.

*Nancy: You physically go somewhere on a ferry.  He appreciates the here and now.  Reminds her of Elliott, “Prufrock” (?).

*April:  Whitman comes earlier than “Prufrock.”  Whitman is very upbeat and positive about industrialization.

*Dr. White:  He thinks if people can hear his voice, everything will be okay.

*Sheila:  Line 128:  “We plant you permanently within us” –Communing with nature.

*April:  We could collectively get past the corruption, natural divine law.

*Dr. White:  Optimism is still possible in this period.  He is in an urban industrial setting—transfers to it very easily from a more natural setting.  Romanticism is very strong—absorbs the realism.  Whitman can move through all registers.