Crossing Brooklyn Bridge Analysis

Walt Whitman’s poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” and Hart Crane’s proem “To Brooklyn Bridge” both highlight the beautiful sights they see in New York City but are drastically different because of the time that they wrote each of their pieces. “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” was written before the Brooklyn Bridge was built but still addresses future generations with the idea that the ferry will not change, only the people taking it. “To Brooklyn Bridge” on the other hand just describes the beauty of the Brooklyn Bridge. And brings the reader back to Hart Crane’s time as if he wants us to enjoy it with him. “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” not only describes how great the ferry is, but that the people that take it are the ones that make it more interesting. Whitman describes “flags of all nations!” (Whitman, line 128) which describes the great immigrant population as many people were coming to America for better opportunities for themselves or for their children and future

1” painting does not have lots of color. This can mean that he did not see it as an amazing thing as Walt Whitman Describes, but just as an everyday thing, a routine that he is used to. The feeling of the painting reminds me of the faces New Yorkers make when commuting to work or to school; they generally don’t look very happy or look very tired and droopy. In his etching of “The Wake of the Ferry,” people are just sitting around on the ferry and do not look very amused or excited, which is the complete opposite of how Walt Whitman described the people on the ferry in his poem. Again, the faces of the people in this etching look as if it’s a normal thing for them and they are not excited. Perhaps they have been riding the ferry long enough to get used to it. In my personal experience as a young child growing up here, I was very excited to take the train. But as I got older, I started making the same “do not bother me” face as many other New Yorkers on their