Walt Whitman conveys the concepts of the “vast similitude” and nonlinear time to show the connection between humans. In “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” and various other poems, poet Walt Whitman portrays the idea of the “vast similitude.” The vast similitude can be defined as the traits shared between people. In addition to the vast similitude, Whitman strategically uses the concept of nonlinear time in his poetry, an idea that the past, present, and future are all connected. The idea of nonlinear time can be found in “To a Historian,” “Poets to Come” and “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” Whitman also depicts the idea of space in “ On the Beach at Night Alone” and “The Learn’d Astronomer.”
Whitman believes that all humans are connected through humanity …show more content…
When Whitman asks, “What is it then between us? / What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?”(CBF 54-55). This causes the reader to stop and consider what the difference between one human being is from the next. The speaker also connects the people of the past to the people of the present. Whitman then goes on to answer his own question, “Whatever it is, it avails not-distance avails not, and place avails not.” (CBF 56). When Whitman answers his own question he is not sure what the difference is between humans, but he does know that the distance or location has no effect on the closeness of humans. The speaker then goes on to say “Fifty years hence others will see them as they cross, the sun half and hour high, / A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundreds years hence, others will see them.” (CBF 17-18). These two lines are describing that the people on the ferry will see the same islands for hundreds of years. Whitman chose this poem to take place on a ferry because the people of the past, present, and future will all be able to see the same things because the ocean and islands will not change. In the poem “On the Beach at Night Alone” Whitman lists all of the different components of life within the cosmos. When Whitman says “All lives and deaths, all of the past, present and future, / The vast similitude spans them”(ONTBANA 12-13), these lines intertwine the vast similitude, the eternal here and now, and space. The speaker does this by saying that all people living or dead will forever be connected through the
Whitman believes that all humans are connected through humanity …show more content…
When Whitman asks, “What is it then between us? / What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?”(CBF 54-55). This causes the reader to stop and consider what the difference between one human being is from the next. The speaker also connects the people of the past to the people of the present. Whitman then goes on to answer his own question, “Whatever it is, it avails not-distance avails not, and place avails not.” (CBF 56). When Whitman answers his own question he is not sure what the difference is between humans, but he does know that the distance or location has no effect on the closeness of humans. The speaker then goes on to say “Fifty years hence others will see them as they cross, the sun half and hour high, / A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundreds years hence, others will see them.” (CBF 17-18). These two lines are describing that the people on the ferry will see the same islands for hundreds of years. Whitman chose this poem to take place on a ferry because the people of the past, present, and future will all be able to see the same things because the ocean and islands will not change. In the poem “On the Beach at Night Alone” Whitman lists all of the different components of life within the cosmos. When Whitman says “All lives and deaths, all of the past, present and future, / The vast similitude spans them”(ONTBANA 12-13), these lines intertwine the vast similitude, the eternal here and now, and space. The speaker does this by saying that all people living or dead will forever be connected through the