The Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge symbolizes a metaphorical bridge between the mundane and the divine. In physical terms it links two discordant sides of the city, as well as being a halfway point between the river and the sky. In figurative terms, it links the free and the oppressed, the everyday and the transcendent, and even the worlds of life and death.

The Cables

The cables that suspend Brooklyn Bridge symbolize constraint. The speaker refers to them as “thy freedom staying thee” (Line 16), being the things that hold the bridge in place. Although the cables are flexible enough that they appear as if they were breathing, they limit the bridge from reaching its ultimate divine potential.

The Bedlamite

The bedlamite symbolizes the limitation and oppression facing the people of New York. Although the only human being in the poem other than the speaker, the suicidal person is viewed...