Blog Post #3

In the poem Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Walt Whitman makes a good case for a connection between the
individual and the masses of commuters. Throughout the poem the author discusses how a common
experience amongst strangers creates a bond that unites them across time. The author and the
commuters, present and future, share the same observations, emotions and life experiences. For
example, “It avails not, time nor place – distance avails not, I am with you, you men and women of a
generation, or ever so many generations hence. Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I
felt.” The author considers the many common sights they share on their daily journey from Manhattan
to Brooklyn: the ships, seagulls, water, sailors, flags sunsets, etc. and concludes, “These and all else
were to me the same as they are to you.” Whitman goes on to present even deeper human connections.
He argues that we are not alone and are all living the same life in many ways. “It is not upon you alone
the dark patches fall; the dark threw its patches down upon me also.” Later he states, “lived the same
life with the rest, the same old laughing, gnawing, sleeping.” In conclusion, Whitman uses this scenario
of commuters, who are strangers, to convey the idea that we as fellow human beings are more alike
than different, and are united by universal connections that span generations.