Poetry

It hard to choose just one poem to favor out of such an great selection. I must say this was by far my favorite unit, probably because I adore how a poem uses less words to convey a huge picture.

Walt Whitman has been a favorite of mine since High School, so reading Crossing Brooklyn Ferry was a huge joy. I had read Leaves of Grass senior year and loved it, but it wasn't until I read the line below that I was completely pulled into the inagery he was setting.

"Others will see the islands large and small; / Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross, the sun half an hour high; / a hundred years hence, or even so many hundred years hence, others will see them,"

I adored how he related different generations to one another, insinuating that we're not so different, that we feel the same and hope the same. Its almost comforting to know there were many people before me going through the struggle, but what makes Witman special is that he's about to share these emotions in a beautiful way. Another line where he reiderates this is "These, and all else, were to me the same as they are to you" which alsmost sounds like he's saying we are friends, going through the same journey but at different times.

He kept repeating the phrase "the sun half an hour high" which to me is one of the most gorgeous hours of the day beause the moring is so new and the air is fresh.

It was this poem that made me feel more comfortable asking questions in my own poetry. I hadn't seen that done much, but i enjoied how philosphical it sounded. He writes:
"What is it, then, between us? / What is the count of the scores of hundreds of years between us?"
This especially stuck out to me, getting a rise out of me to make sense of why we are born when and where we are, and what do we make of the peopple who once stood where we did many years before.

It is poems like this that make me ponder the divine, wondering how things may change in time. It is poetry like this that makes me want to write.