After scrolling, this entry seemed the most interesting especially since I too enjoy a nice ferry ride. It seems though not as much as Mr. Whitman. The one thing I noticed was the lists. This entry is a list of things: scenery, people, and images. The people he knew, the things he saw while on the sea, his reasons for loving ferries, etc. He just continues to list out everything. I noticed he does that in "Song of Myself" as well. The list there is more descriptive. Take for example at the top of page 18 when he says, "If I worship any particular thing it shall be some of the spread of my body." After that, he lists of parts of his body in great detail, one line being, "You my rich blood your milky stream pale strippings of my life."
This is what Whitman is talking about when he suggests that people shouldn't be couped up indoors and that they need to go out an explore. One doesn't need to be in the woods to have an adventure and explore. All he did was go on a ferry and he was about to hear "the majestic sounds boats" and see friends. The fact that this is one of his passions also goes to show you that Whitman is a man of pleasure. He knows what he likes he goes for it and enjoys it.
Very nice! I think W. sees that it's easy to go to the "woods" and be yourself . . the real challenge is to find that self in the crowd . . . surrounded by others but also to find that self in others . . we'll see in Crossing Brooklyn Ferry how he tries to make sense of this . . .
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