The Brooklyn Bridge in New York was 125 years old this past weekend. The New York Times has some good celebration pictures of the celebration.
Since I couldn’t go hang out in New York, I’m celebrating with this super exciting educational reading of Walt Whitman’s masterpiece, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” I know, I know. I’m a real wild man.
Whitman is writing during the period of Romanticism. Technically, I suppose you’d say he’s a light romantic. He fits in with other transcendentalist writers like Emerson and Thoreau. (But not Poe. His gothic stuff made him a dark romantic.)
Whether you like the light or dark, Romanticism emphasizes feelings and impressions over fact and science and form. Whitman is especially interesting to me because he’s a good bridge between romanticism and realism. He maintains the ruthless optimism of the light romantics Emerson and Thoreau, but his experiences as a nurse during the civil war give his writing a hard, visceral edge. He celebrates himself and the crowds of Manhattan and he acknowledges how beautiful people are even with all of their faults.
In one sense, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry is about just that—riding across the river to Manhattan on the Brooklyn Ferry before the Brooklyn Bridge was completed. But it’s also about shared experiences and the personality of humanity, about what those shared experiences mean for the people who remember us, and ultimately about crossing the gap between the writer and the reader.
Something about this poem makes me think of blogging. Someday all of this turn-of-the-21st-century online flurry will be staring into the faces of people in the future—speaking to them. This blog maybe. Many podcasts. The bests one anyway—the ones with the most truth and beauty will endure. And who knows but that we writers will be looking back at our future readers?
It’s a silly Romantic notion, I know.
But I always feel romantic when I read Whitman.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Two things. First, I’m still learning about podcasting. Playing around with audio. That’s why the sound levels here go up and down and stuff. Sorry about that. The technician responsible has been shot.
Also, you’ll notice that I’m on YET ANOTHER podcasting service. Testing driving all of the options trying to figure out which might be a good investment for us at TheHighCalling.org and LaityLodge.org.
Marcus,
The closest I can get to the Brooklyn Bridge is I once interviewed a descendant of John Roebling, the guy who designed the bridge. Roebling also designed and built the Waco Suspension Bridge in Waco, Texas.
You will need this bit of trivia someday. I’m sure of it.
-Sam
Samuel Adams’s last blog post..Favorite Bible book = John’s Gospel
Wow, what a cool thing to read. Whitman writing to me. Amazing.
real live preacher’s last blog post..Listening: One of the Hardest Things You Will Ever Do
Sam, I’ve been on the Waco suspension bridge! It’s a neat thing!
Real Live Preacher, Whitman is really really amazing. And he was thinking about you, man.
Marcus,
I too.
I too.
I love Whitman and I LOVED listening to you read him. It was mesmorizing. It made me happy. It left me wishing you would record Leaves of Grass (yup, the whole thing…seriously, you should consider it!)
It also made me sad that you are not still in a classroom. I think this is now one of my favorite posts of yours.
Kim
L.L.’s friend, Lurker Kim