“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” A Sample Explication/Interpretation

What I Did I reread the poem Marked up things I noticed Went back and forth to clarify, understand Tracked pronouns Wrote down my thoughts Read a commentary, after, only to make sure I wasn’t being an idiot

The Situation Does the poem tell a story? Is it a narrative poem? If so, what events occur? Does the poem express an emotion or describe a mood? Poetic voice: Who is the speaker? Is the poet speaking to the reader directly or is the poem told through a fictional "persona"? To whom is he speaking? Can you trust the speaker? Tone: What is the speaker's attitude toward the subject of the poem? What sort of tone of voice seems to be appropriate for reading the poem out loud? What words, images, or ideas give you a clue to the tone?

The Situation Title: “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”

The Situation Title: “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” He’s on a boat with others He keeps talking to “you” He’s looking around at his surroundings

The Situation Title: “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” He’s on a boat with others He’s looking around He “likes” what he sees: I loved well those cities, loved well the stately and rapid river, Ah, what can ever be more stately and admirable to me than mast-hemm’d Manhattan? Flow on, river! flow with the flood-tide, and ebb with the ebb-tide! / Frolic on, crested and scallop-edg’d waves! / Gorgeous clouds of the sunset! drench with your splendor me, or the men and women generations after me!

The Structure Form: Look at the number of lines, their length, their arrangement on the page. How does the form relate to the content? Is it a traditional form (e.g. sonnet, limerick) or "free form"? Why do you think the poem chose that form for his poem? Movement: How does the poem develop? Are the images and ideas developed chronologically, by cause and effect, by free association? Does the poem circle back to where it started, or is the movement from one attitude to a different attitude (e.g. from despair to hope)? Syntax: How many sentences are in the poem? Are the sentences simple or complicated? Are the verbs in front of the nouns instead of in the usual "noun, verb" order? Why? Punctuation: What kind of punctuation is in the poem? Does the punctuation always coincide with the end of a poetic line? If so, this is called an end-stopped line. If there is no punctuation at the end of a line and the thought continues into the next line, this is called enjambment. Is there any punctuation in the middle of a line? Why do you think the poet would want you to pause halfway through the line? Title: What does the title mean? How does it relate to the poem itself?

The Structure No recognizable shape 9 numbered sections (?) Syntax (grammar)

The Structure Form through repetition: Repeating lines: “Others will…” “Just as you… so I…” “I too…” Lists of details and descriptions These are called “catalogues” When you list things together, you are showing some kind of connections among them Recurring themes: Time and distance Great and small Still and moving I and you

The Structure

The Structure Section 3: It avails not, time nor place—distance avails not, Section 5: 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, Between those: list of details, that separates (distracts?) us from that repetition

Interpretation: Is he really talking to me? I am not there; the steamboats are gone I am sitting at a Starbucks on the south side of Grand Rapids, overlooking Kalamazoo Avenue and M-6.

Interpretation: Is he really talking to me? I am not there; the steamboats are gone I am sitting at a Starbucks on the south side of Grand Rapids, overlooking Kalamazoo Avenue and M-6. What is accomplished?

Interpretation: Is he really talking to me? I am not there; the steamboats are gone I am sitting at a Starbucks on the south side of Grand Rapids, overlooking Kalamazoo Avenue and M-6. What is accomplished? His soul is somehow connected to his surroundings: the people, the river, the boats and buildings. Perhaps likewise, my soul is somehow connected to my surroundings, just as I am connected to Whitman across time and space.

The Ferry The river is a common symbol for the passage of time and our journey through life. We saw this in Huck Finn. The ferry cuts across the river, going from shore to opposite shore, connecting the two sides that are separated by… the passage of time and our journey through life.