Manahatta

Choose one of the stanzas from Walt Whitman’s poems (in LEO) and discuss how it has amplified or enhanced your understanding of a particular place or event seen in today’s travels through New York. Try to imitate the style of your poem by writing one stanza which describes the place or event that you have chosen to focus on.

Whilst in New York and reading Walt Whitman’s poem the literature suddenly became an anthem for my time in this extraordinary city. My experience walking through the city had great significance to Whitman’s poem and I was able to visualise what it was he was talking about. More specifically the following Stanza was one that stuck with me and I often found myself comparing to my experience.

The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form’d,
   beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes,
Trottoirs throng’d, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the
   shops and shows,
A million people–manners free and superb–open voices–
   hospitality–the most courageous and friendly young

The poem allowed me to understand and fall in love with the Whitman’s city but more so deeply in the borough of Brooklyn. It was whilst in Brooklyn that I learnt and completely understood the heaviness of Whitman’s poem to not only himself but to me. Walking around Brooklyn and hearing the hum of the city in the distance created an inside to the beauty of Manhattan in which Whitman describes in his poem. A day out of the business of Manhattan made me fall in love with it even deeper but also created a special place in my heart for the borough of Brooklyn. I adored Brooklyn and the serenity it contrasted to the business and vibrancy of Manhattan but still keeping that same historical feeling as you walk through the streets. Everything about Brooklyn was just so comforting to me, from the serenity to the warmth I felt when seeing the street lamps lit up by individual flames. Whitman expresses his love for the city and how it can be inspiring. He shows pride for his city. And even though this city is not mine, I felt pride in being able to experience what he felt in the moment he wrote that poem.

After hearing Whitman’s poem read to me whilst looking at the magnificent Manhattan skyline I suddenly felt comfort in the borough and wanted to see more. After walking half of the Brooklyn bridge back to lower Manhattan I was eager to head back to Brooklyn to explore more of the borough. That afternoon we went and had lunch at Julianna’s one of the most famous Italian restaurants in New York. There I witnessed the “hospitality” Whitman speaks of in this stanza. Kind and friendly faces filled the jam packed restaurant …

The emotions I had felt were reflected in Whitman’s stanza where he describes “a million people manners free and superb–open voices— “. I felt this related in that moment to the busyness of the city and freedom everyone had in their open voices. Everyone in the city seemed so free and I myself felt the same way. In the madness, I felt so safe and content. Something I don’t even feel in my own city these days. Whitman’s poem helped me really appreciate my experience in New York City and Brooklyn made me fall in love with the city.

“beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes,” This line represented for me that exact moment of staring at the skyline and seeing the picturesque image that before I could only dream of seeing.

The words in his poem have repeated sounds this reflects the energy of the city and his choice of lengths of the lines demonstrating freedom and that was the emotion I felt when hearing the poem whilst looking at the larger than life skyline. I attempted to mirror the emotions I felt that day in Brooklyn in the following stanza…

In a place, I feel complete

In the stillness of the streets

I hear noises whispering

A city where I am dreaming 

This city, it floods

Passion runs through my blood

Just across the bay

Streets where my aspirations lay