Late Romanticism In Walt Whitman's 'Crossing Brooklyn Ferry'

The poem “Niagara” by Sigourney is essentially about how God portrays himself through nature and the impact this creates on the individual. His creations are a representation of himself and the power that he holds. In “Song of Myself,” Whitman takes the focus away from nature and places the emphasis on the individual. God is everywhere we go, nature is part of Gods’ creation, but so are we. The poems have differing views on God which in turn impacts how the authors view the relationship of God to the individual. Sigourney and Whitman both acknowledge Gods prevalence in the environment that surrounds them, but Sigourney believes that we will never be able to amount to Gods glory or even be good enough to praise him, whereas Whitman believes God is part of us, he is no better than us, therefore we should not spend our time trying to understand or praise him.

The soul is also mentioned earlier in the poem as beautiful, despite the faces he sees which are at most "despising," (Whitman, `Faces'). Whitman was apparently very much intrigued by the soul, he tried to find a "path," to the soul even though he admits that he was not sure what the soul was. However, he was determined he would find a "path between reality and their souls," (Allen, 192). Like most of the pantheists of his time he wanted to connect many things, reality and the soul; even individualism and the nation. Whitman quoted, "The empowerments of each element of the country individually but at the same time their merger in the collective empowerment of the nation

The Sea-Drift is one of the few poems that recount Walt Whitman’s childhood. Whitman takes us through journey to imagine his childhood in way that is straightforward. This poem gives me the vibe of song and musical because use of the language. This poem Sea- Drift sounds like song lyric maybe, because the bird crying to the ocean and which creates a chirping sound, nature sounds. I think this is iconic because it illustrates the imagination of a child observing nature as it makes him curious to figure out microscopic things in nature, although birds are visible but to investigate the nest of the birds and count its contains are bit unbelievable.

People of all kinds are influenced by their everyday life and it shows in their work. Walt Whitman is no exception to this rule. Whitman was born in 1819

“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” is Walt Whitman’s way of personifying the everyday experiences of living in society; specifically, Whitman’s firsthand account of his routine crossing on the Brooklyn Ferry. To achieve this is his poem Whitman utilizes the use of repetition to emphasize specific points throughout the works. This is particularly evident in stanza six, here Whitman begins each statement with the phrase “I too”; in doing so Whitman exploits the device of repetition to consolidate the striking commonalities each individual share. By relating to such familiar commonalities such as “I too walk’d the streets of Manhattan, and bathed in its waters.”, the author brings the reader onto level ground and utilizes the familiar experiences of common

Walt Whitman was one of the best literary figures of that time and through history because people still love his books. After Whitman stopped writing he decided to become a nurse during the Civil War. His most famous book was Leaves of Grass; it is now a trademark book through history. He also wrote about the potential freedom in America.

Some historians believe that this may have deeply affected his writing and opinions, but this is not known for sure. As whitman grew older he became an abolitionist and he was a woman's rights activist. Whitman was part of the minority of people who thought that women should be able to own property, which was unheard of in this time. Some historians believe that Whitman had various unhappy sexual attempts, and came to realize that he was homosexual, giving him the power to form his imagination. After 1855 Whitman had this experience he started to write classics like, “Leaves of Grass”. Around the time of the Civil War, Whitman found life getting harder. As the Nation situation was deteriorating, all business was risky and most people were struggling with the hard times. As things got worse in Whitman's life he had to put his own brother in an insane asylum, after physically attacking his mother in 1864. The older Whitman got the more he wrote until there came a time when he became ill. The great poet died on March 26, 1892, of tuberculosis. Such a Great poet killed by a terrible sickness so fast(Gay

Whitman was able to change people’s views on life and was able to give people something that they wanted and were looking for in his creation of a new writing style. His writing about real life experiences connected him well with the common man, which is another aspect of the Romantic period. Whitman is also thought of as the “father of free verse.” He enjoyed using free verse because it could further distinguish him from other writers of the past, and of his time.

Walt Whitman loved to experiment with form when it came to poetry. He used his verses to show his complete adoration of all things wild, and our role as beings in this infinitely complex and thought-provoking universe in which we exist. To say he had a bit of a “nature crush” would be an understatement – Whitman goes in to great detail of his love for the wildness and often describes his emotions in a viscerally sexual manner, using poetic devices to underline his immense feelings for environment and hammer in the imagery to readers of how majestic the world appears to him. “Romantic” poets loved the outdoors – if it wasn’t contained in four walls and a roof, they were all about it. They loved to praise the innate details that made our planet so incredible,

Nature has an undefinable meaning as the theme is utilised in literature, and it has been a topic of reflection within the Romanticists since the beginning of the era. Romanticism and nature and inextricably linked ideas. Poets; Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman wrote during the romantic era, and both drew heavily from aspects of nature in their work. Nature can be paralleled against several things, including humanity and the idea of life and death. The contrast between the natural world and the artificial world, and what this means for society, is also strongly eluded to in Dickinson and Whitman’s poems. Each poet uses nature as the backbone to their poetry in several instances. Dickinson’s, “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”, (Dickinson, 19) and “My Life Has Stood A Loaded Gun”, (Dickinson, 69) are strong examples of this. Whitman’s, “Song of Myself”, (Whitman, 29) and, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, (Whitman, 255) are also poems that show the connection between nature and romanticism. Poets, Dickinson and Whitman engage with romanticism in a creative and constructive manner through the utilisation of the natural world.

Whitman has a philosophical approach about religion, religion practices and the journey of the soul. He uses the imagery of nature and other every day attributes to question life beyond death, rebirth and the unison of individual and nature. He is not afraid to die and admits ".... there is really no death, /and if ever there was it led toward life" (Whitman line…. )He finds the Devine power in nature and everything around him rather that in the altar of a church, which

The dominant themes that are more pervasive in Whitman’s poetry are democracy, life/death cycles, individualism, and nature. These themes play major roles in some of his more notable poems such as “Songs of Myself” or “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” He used democracy as a theme to bring society together, and unite everyone based on their general beliefs. He depicted life and death cycles to merge society together on a spiritual level. Despite his eagerness to unite society he also embraced individualism, and is also a persistent theme in most of his poetry. Nature was an important concept that Whitman used to convince people who there were more important things to life than class structure. He used nature connect us all, and encourage people to

Walt Whitman, a civil war nurse was a self-taught poet in the 1800s. Whitman is known for using lists, anaphora, free verse, and other literary devices in his poems. In his works, he focuses on American workers, diversity, transcendent approaches to nature, and individualism. “Song of Myself,” a poem written by Whitman, explores themes of nature, sex, democracy, and spirituality. Whitman uses nature to fuel his creativity in using grass as a symbol of comparison to life by using imagery, metaphors, and analogies.

It was a deep poem, because it opened up his perspective on life, and his perspective is unique. In a way he spoke of his own religion, and preached that everyone meets their maker, but everyone is reincarnated as a blade of grass, and he spoke of showing respect for the blades of grass because they could have been part of his ancestory or a person of importance to another person. In general, he wanted people to show appreciation for the world because many generations walked this planet before he did. He wanted people to respect those who have since been deceased, no matter their race, because death is inevitable, and they will soon face it. Whitman’s writing style carried over into this canto, his blank verse style of poetry, although it was not flashy, it made him sound educated and well spoken, but hard to follow. He also revealed that he did believe in a god when he spoke of God’s handkerchief was a gift for Earth, through a

This is another poem that links Whitman to the Romantics. The "birth of the poet" genre was of particular importance to Wordsworth, whose massive Prelude details his artistic coming-of-age in detail. Like Wordsworth, Whitman claims to take his inspiration from nature. Where Wordsworth is inspired by a wordless feeling of awe, though, Whitman finds an opportunity to anthropomorphize, and nature gives him very specific answers to his questions about overarching concepts. Nature is a tabula rasa onto which the poet can project himself. He conquers it, inscribes it. While it may become a part of him that is always present, the fact that it does so seems to be by his permission.