Walt Whitman, as a follower of Emerson’s concept of transcendentalism, splendidly expresses his idea of “Universal Eye”, as accomplishment of everyone and everything, in his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.”
It would seem that such a philosophy related poetry is supposed to be objectless and abstract. One, who got inspired with philosophical ideas, is usually a stranger to the smallest details of everyday life. That is why, it looks uncommon and great that Whitman uses the chains of daily life images to strengthen his cosmically wide concepts. He combines the simple images, that everyone of us sees, in such a special way and makes the whole picture look joyful,bright , and wide.
While reading Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”, I was especially excited by the way he unites all human generations in their common experience of life. He obliterates time in the face of common origins and common events, saying ” It avails not, time nor place- distance avails not…” Reading his poem is not only delight of pictorial images of nature. However, it is also his thought provoking idea about the existence of invisible connections between past and future, and unity of all human beings.
Great! Do you think that the form of the poem enables Whitman to accomplish what you think he accomplishes?
Yes, I think it does. Whitman uses so called free verse techniques in the poem. It looks like there is no shape at all. He uses the lines of varying length, some of them are so long that get broken and carried over. There are no strict canons about the form, the poem is free of that. I think the usage of these techniques helps Whitman to achieve merging of present and future and put a reader in the timelessness of being. That is how he shares the idea of transcendentalism.
P. S. I am sorry for the late reply.