Question

Zxduk.o/Read the excerpt from " Crossing Brooklyn Ferry."Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt,Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd,Just as you are refresh'd by the gladness of the river and thebright flow, I was refresh'd,Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swiftcurrent, I stood yet was hurried,Just as you look on the numberless masts of ships and thethick-stemm'd pipes of steamboats, I look'd.How is this excerpt representative of free verse?

a) The poet is expressing ideas through a loose structure with repetition.
b) The poet is expressing ideas using a strict structure with rhyme.
c) The poet is expressing ideas using repetition and a specific rhythm.
d) The poet is expressing ideas without any structural elements.

Answer 1

The excerpt from "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" exemplifies free verse through its use of repetition and parallelism to create rhythm without fixed meter or rhyme, characteristic of option a) expressing ideas through a loose structure with repetition.

Step-by-step explanation:

The excerpt from "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" by Walt Whitman is representative of free verse, which is a poetic form that does not adhere to strict rules of meter or rhyme. The particular characteristic that defines the excerpt as free verse is a) the poet is expressing ideas through a loose structure with repetition.

Whitman employs parallelism and anaphora by beginning multiple lines with "Just as you," creating a rhythmic effect without relying on a fixed meter or rhyme pattern. Additionally, the poem communicates a timeless connection between the speaker and the readers, linking past experiences with those of future generations through a shared observation of the natural and urban landscape of Brooklyn and Manhattan. This further exemplifies the freedom of form that is indicative of free verse, where the flow of lines is organic and guided more by thematic elements rather than formal poetic constraints.

Free verse allows the poet to freely express thoughts and images without being confined to a traditional poetic structure, which is seen in the lack of rigid rhyme schemes or a fixed line length within the excerpt. Instead, Whitman's free verse is characterized by its fluid form that mimics the flow of thoughts and the natural movement of the scene described, as in "Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swift current, I stood yet was hurried."