The central concern of the poem is how everyday life in the city is meaningful. I reached this idea because Whitman focuses on simple things like the river, the ferry, and people going home, and shows that these moments matter. That means that people from different times in the line of life will experience the same feelings and sights. Like we were born, grew up (or not), some reproduce (or not), and we die, that’s the only thing that we have for sure, that’s the cycle of life. I think that he means that we are connected and the train means the life and everyone is in a different stage, but in the end, we will arrive at the same final destination.

Whitman uses repetition when he lists the sights of the city, the river, and the people crossing the ferry. This repetition shows that these everyday moments are important and shared by many people. It helped me understand that the poem is about common human experiences that connect everyone .