An Analysis of “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” and “Out of the...

An Analysis of â€Å"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry† and â€Å"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking† By Austin Cooley ENGL 2027 – 007 In â€Å"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry† the story follows the narrator’s experience with life as he takes a beautiful ferry ride. The man talks about the meaning of his life to other people. In this crowd he brings together all of the strangers and finds a connection. His journey through â€Å"space and time† is focused on the people. In the first sections, Whitman sets the scene by describing his surroundings. He personifies a few objects, thus, making them more relatable to the people he is surrounded by. He feels connected to a pattern larger than himself, and how the past and the future resemble each other. And so he gets into the real†¦show more content†¦The things that gave him pleasure were in fact the sensory pleasures. What he saw in the world, the voices and sounds of the people, the accomplishments that he felt, and memories that he made were his justifications for living. Living his life to the fullest and cherishing the things that he did for him self gave him an identity. There is a key difference between living a meaningless life and a leading a rewarding life with a purpose. In the first case, the goal in life is to work hard to be accepted by the standards of others. As a result, a life will most likely wasted on work that gives no meaning or reward to the person. In the second case, a person can live for their own standards and behave in a way that is enjoyable to themselves. â€Å"I too had receivd identity by my body, That I was I knew was of my body, and what I should be I knew I should be of my body. . . . About my body for me, and your body for you. . .† The interiority as Whitman describes, guarantees that an individual can find meaning in life without comparing themselves against others and bringing out the evil and deceitful qualities of humans. In an ideal model of Whitmans social behavior, everyone would be content and there would be no evil in the world. The final two lines of the poem set his conclusion regarding the importance of interiority its results on the world. You furnish your parts toward eternity, Great or small, you furnish your parts toward the soul. Whitman himself ignored the