There are many differing viewpoints on how great New York City is, if you even consider it to be great. There are tourists who see New York as a dazzling distant land. There are city born New Yorkers who just think the city is normal and bland. There are even new New Yorkers that slowly see the glamour of New York fade the longer they stay. Though not many New Yorkers today agree with the idea that New York is united, Walt Whitman wrote his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” about how the people of New York become connected through shared sights and experiences of New York City. Whitman writes a long poem on the glory and unity of New York City, but his view of that unity isn’t supported through the views of Fitzgerald, Teasdale, and McKay. Having
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Towards the end of his poem, on the last part, part nine, Whitman returns to talking about his surroundings, “Flow on, river! […] Gorgeous clouds of the sunset! […] Throb, baffled and curious brain!” (Whitman 143) with such enthusiasm, convincing the reader that the city is really something to be looked up upon. The last few lines that Whitman writes, “we plant you permanently within us […] You furnish your parts toward eternity, / Great or small, you furnish your parts toward the soul,” (Whitman 144) ending the poem saying New York will always be with us. The use of the word “us” and the phrase “the soul” is towards the idea of the unity of New York City. “The soul,” Whitman writes as if to imply that all the people that have visited New York, repeatedly left New York, were born in New York and never learned to appreciate it, they are all a part of one soul, the soul of New York …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald wrote a personal essay about his experience with New York, “My Lost City,” and although he kept going back and forth on whether he was fascinated by the glamour or annoyed with everything else, Fitzgerald said, “From that moment I knew that New York, however often I might leave it, was home,” (Fitzgerald 575) which compliments Whitman’s views on the city. However, even if New York was home to him, the people did not seem as hospitable to him. Fitzgerald wrote, “I was a failure […] Hating the city, I got roaring, weeping drunk on my last penny and went home,” before going on to say, “When I returned six months later the offices of editors and publishers were open to me […] To my bewilderment, I was adopted, not as a Middle Westerner, not even as a detached observer, but as the arch type of what New York wanted.” (Fitzgerald 572) The transition from drunken failure to famous writer obviously made Fitzgerald’s view on New York shift from distaste to joy. Fitzgerald also wrote, “I remember a lonesome Christmas when we had not one friend in the city, nor one house we could go to,” (Fitzgerald 573) when thinking about how drastically his social life changed because of his newfound fame. Before he published his first successful piece, F. Scott Fitzgerald had a difficult experience with New York and then after his successful piece he discovered more of the glamour. After Fitzgerald’s fame died down he was back to being bored with the city, “This was no fun – once
Towards the end of his poem, on the last part, part nine, Whitman returns to talking about his surroundings, “Flow on, river! […] Gorgeous clouds of the sunset! […] Throb, baffled and curious brain!” (Whitman 143) with such enthusiasm, convincing the reader that the city is really something to be looked up upon. The last few lines that Whitman writes, “we plant you permanently within us […] You furnish your parts toward eternity, / Great or small, you furnish your parts toward the soul,” (Whitman 144) ending the poem saying New York will always be with us. The use of the word “us” and the phrase “the soul” is towards the idea of the unity of New York City. “The soul,” Whitman writes as if to imply that all the people that have visited New York, repeatedly left New York, were born in New York and never learned to appreciate it, they are all a part of one soul, the soul of New York …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald wrote a personal essay about his experience with New York, “My Lost City,” and although he kept going back and forth on whether he was fascinated by the glamour or annoyed with everything else, Fitzgerald said, “From that moment I knew that New York, however often I might leave it, was home,” (Fitzgerald 575) which compliments Whitman’s views on the city. However, even if New York was home to him, the people did not seem as hospitable to him. Fitzgerald wrote, “I was a failure […] Hating the city, I got roaring, weeping drunk on my last penny and went home,” before going on to say, “When I returned six months later the offices of editors and publishers were open to me […] To my bewilderment, I was adopted, not as a Middle Westerner, not even as a detached observer, but as the arch type of what New York wanted.” (Fitzgerald 572) The transition from drunken failure to famous writer obviously made Fitzgerald’s view on New York shift from distaste to joy. Fitzgerald also wrote, “I remember a lonesome Christmas when we had not one friend in the city, nor one house we could go to,” (Fitzgerald 573) when thinking about how drastically his social life changed because of his newfound fame. Before he published his first successful piece, F. Scott Fitzgerald had a difficult experience with New York and then after his successful piece he discovered more of the glamour. After Fitzgerald’s fame died down he was back to being bored with the city, “This was no fun – once