“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” also has Transcendentalist themes of nature and religion. An article written by Susan Strom discusses the possibility of the speaker being a godlike figure, looking down on the events that are happening in the poem. Strom even goes as far as to argue that this godlike figure could be Walt Whitman himself by calling him the “poet-prophet” (Strom). Although the evidence of Whitman being the speaker can be debated, there is certainly a religious undertone for the duration of the poem.
One example of the religious undertones would be when Whitman writes, “Others will enter the gates of the ferry and cross from shore to shore, / Others will watch the run of the flood tide” (Whitman). This could be interpreted as a symbol for heaven and hell. The “gates of the ferry”
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This cycle that is forever ongoing is also an example of how Whitman ties nature into “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” Whitman describes different things that are usually overlooked when someone is getting on a ferry. He deeply describes the seagulls that are there and how he could see them “high in the air floating with motionless wings… how the glistening yellow lit up parts of their bodies and left the rest in strong shadow” (Whitman). Small details like this add to the imagery and proves that Whitman was influenced by the themes of transcendentalism. These seagulls that are often overlooked get painted a beautiful picture of the nature that is happening all around. It makes the reader stop and realize everything they may have missed by being too busy. It also drills the point of how often people get used to their own routine and never stop to see the world that is happening around them.