ENGL 270 American Literature: Reading Exercise: Walt Whitman

ENGL 270 American Literature | Gregory Eiselein | Fall 2002

Reading Exercise: Walt Whitman

For Friday (9/20), please read Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." Read it once to make yourself familiar with the poem. Then read it a second time: each time he says "you," imagine that he really and truly means you individually. Try to read it aloud at least once. Then, read it once more as you write answers to each of these questions. Answer these questions in the space below or attach additional sheets with your answers. Please hand in this short, informal assignment on Friday, September 20th.

1. What is this poem about? Be specific; refer to particular images or lines in the poem.

2. How is this poem written? What seems noticeable or distinctive about the words, the way they are arranged or ordered, or the way they sound?

3. What does this poem mean? (You can answer this question by thinking of it from different perspectives: What is the poet trying to say? Or what meaning do you see in the poem? How would other people in the class see the poem? To whom would this poem be especially meaningful and why?)