Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” An Interpretive Analysis The poem, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” by Walt Whitman takes a look at the likelihood of stability within the human race based on common experiences. ... He overstates his childhood homeland, Manhattan, and honors the constant change and rapid growth in America through the symbolic ferry. He uses the ferry as a viable means of uniting people together regardless of cultural differences, allowing them to be a sole unified society--the city of Manhattan. ... The ferry is symbolic as a bridge because it connects the diverse Manhattan together, thus drawing America and Americans together, and because it connects people of generations apart together. ... “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” communicates Whitmans ideas about life in a discrete but highly effective manner. The poet joins his readers and all past and future ferry passengers.