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My citys fit and noble name resumed,
Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning,
A rocky founded island shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going, hurrying sea waves.
In this poem, Whitman yearns for a return to Manhattan before the industrial revolution, before it was a city. He writes,”My city’s fit and noble named resumed”. The Native Americans who lived on the island before it became a metropolis named it “Mannahatta”, which losely translated means “island of many hills”. Explorer Henry Hudson stumbled upon the island of “Mannahatta” in 1609 when he was looking for a passage to the Orient and the land that he discovered was rich with many varieties of plant and wildlife. There were rolling hills on one side and shore on the other. Whitman wants a return to the “natural” Mannahatta rather than the city he sees beginning to spring up around him. “Choice aboriginal (which in this case means original) name, with marvellous beauty, meaning, a rocky founded island – shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going hurring sea waves, he writes. Little did he know how densely populated with building and people Manhattan would become. It’s now all about the coming and going of people rather than sea waves. But, here Whitman does an excellent job of capturing the sounds and motion of the sea, which along with the rocky cliffs allow us to conjure up a visual of what the original island may have looked like.
For more information on Mannahatta (the place) visit the following links:
http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/past/mannahatta-manhattan-a-natural-history-of-new-york-city.html
http://themannahattaproject.org/about/overview/
the mannahatta project link is very interesting and has even recreated the landscape of what manhattan would have looked like then so that you can take a virtual tour of it. (pretty neat, I checked it out) and teachers if you want to teach your class about new york history the mannahatta site also has a curriculum about it for different grade levels.
In this poem, Whitman yearns for a return to Manhattan before it was a city. He writes, “My city’s fit and noble named resumed, Choice aborignal(which in this case means original/indigenous) name, with marvellous beauty, meaning,” The orignial settlers of Manhattan, the Native Americans, first called it Mannahatta, which loosely translated means “island of many hills”. In 1609, explorer Henry Hudson discovered Mannahatta when he was searching for passage to the Orient and at that time the city we know of as packed with skyscrapers and traffic was full of rolling hills, various wildlife and lush plant life. Mannahatta was hills on one side and sea on the other (since it was an island, after all) And Whitman wishes it could be like that again. He wants that calm, serene atmosphere instead of the beginning of industrialization he sees springing up around him. He wants, “A rocky founded island – shores where ever gayly dash the coming, going and hurrying sea waves”. Here Whitman does and excellent job of capturing the rhythm of the sea, which coupled with the rocky cliffs allows us to conjure an image of what Manhattan was then. Today, instead of the comin, going and hurrying of sea waves we have the coming, going and hurrying of millions of people. For more information on Mannahatta, please visit the following links:
http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/past/mannahatta-manhattan-a-natural-history-of-new-york-city.html
http://themannahattaproject.org/about/overview/
the mannahattaproject site even has a virtual tour of what Manhattan looked like in 1609 as “Mannahatta”. It is pretty cool I tried it. Check it out. Oh and teachers, if you want to teach your class some New York history the site has a cirriculum all about Mannahatta for various grade levels.