To brooklyn bridge hart crane. Brooklyn Museum 2022-12-11

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The Brooklyn Bridge, designed by John Augustus Roebling and completed in 1883, is a symbol of the indomitable spirit of the American people. It is a testament to the ingenuity and determination of its creators, who overcame numerous challenges to build a bridge that would connect the bustling city of Brooklyn to the island of Manhattan.

One of the most famous poets to write about the Brooklyn Bridge is Hart Crane. In his poem "To Brooklyn Bridge," Crane explores the bridge as a symbol of hope and possibility. He writes:

"How many dawns, chill from his rippling rest The seagull's wings shall dip and pivot him, Shedding white rings of tumult, building high Over the chained bay waters Liberty— Then, with inviolate curve, forsake our eyes As apparitional as sails that cross Some page of figures to be filed away; —Till elevators drop us from our day . . . I think of cinemas, panoramic sleights With multitudes bent toward some flashing scene Never disclosed, but hastened to again, Foretold to other eyes on the same screen; And Thee, across the harbor, silver-paced As though the sun took step of thee, yet left Some motion ever unspent in thy stride,— Implicitly thy freedom staying thee! Out of some subway scuttle, cell or loft A bedlamite speeds to thy parapets, Tilting there momently, shrill shirt ballooning, A jest falls from the speechless caravan. Down Wall, from girder into street noon leaks, A rip-tooth of the sky's acetylene; All afternoon the cloud-flown derricks turn . . . Thy cables breathe the North Atlantic still. And obscure as that heaven of the Jews, Thy guerdon . . . Accolade thou dost bestow Of anonymity time cannot raise: Vibrant reprieve and pardon thou dost show. O harp and altar, of the fury fused, (How could mere toil align thy choiring strings!) Terrific threshold of the prophet's pledge, Prayer of pariah, and the lover's cry,— Again the traffic lights that skim thy swift Unfractioned idiom, immaculate sigh of stars, Beading thy path—condense eternity: And we have seen night lifted in thine arms. Under thy shadow by the piers I waited; Only in darkness is thy shadow clear. The City's fiery parcels all undone, Already snow submerges an iron year . . . O Sleepless as the river under thee, Vaulting the sea, the prairies' dreaming sod, Unto us lowliest sometime sweep, descend And of the curveship lend a myth to God."

Crane's poetry is infused with a sense of awe and wonder at the Brooklyn Bridge. He sees it as a beacon of hope, a symbol of the potential for human accomplishment. He marvels at the way it connects people, physically and emotionally, and how it seems to transcend time and space.

The Brooklyn Bridge is more than just a bridge; it is a symbol of the American Dream. It represents the idea that anything is possible with hard work and determination. It is a reminder that, no matter how insurmountable the challenges may seem, we can overcome them if we have the courage to try. This message is as relevant today as it was when the Brooklyn Bridge was first built, and it is one that Hart Crane captured

The Bridge: To Brooklyn Bridge by Harold Hart Crane

to brooklyn bridge hart crane

When World War I happened, Hart attempted to enlist, but he was not allowed because he was a minor. The lights of the city have gone out under the snow. Migrations that must need void memory, Inventions that cobblestone the heart,—— Unspeakable Thou Bridge to Thee, O Love. It is the noisy, crowded, ever-growing New York City of the 1920s. The bridge is sleepless, connoting restlessness. Whatever call——falls vainly on the wave.

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Hart Crane's View From the Bridge

to brooklyn bridge hart crane

Crane was less assured. . It refers to the fine road over the bridge on which the traffic lights get reflected. The poem is mostly written in iambic pentameter, a meter consisting of 10 syllables in a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. This office work continues "till elevators drop us from our day. O harp and altar, of the fury fused, How could mere toil align thy choiring strings! Light drowned the lithic trillions of your spawn. He was born and raised in Ohio and had an upper-middle class upbringing.

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The Bridge Study Guide: Analysis

to brooklyn bridge hart crane

The bridge is as sleepless as the river that flows under it. Though freedom is dangerous, it seems preferable to any alternative. The object which is intended to streamline and uncomplicated modern life still serves as an additional responsibility, thus inspiring Crane to theorize that there is no invention which will ever satisfy people. ! Silvery the rushing wake, surpassing call, Beams yealling Aeolus! A seagull takes flight from its perch on the water. He asks it for the reprieve of anonymity and to descend to comfort the lowly. And builds, within, a tower that is not stone Not stone can jacket heaven ——but slip Of pebbles,——visible wings of silence sown In azure circles, widening as they dip The matrix of the heart, lift down the eye That shrines the quiet lake and swells a tower.

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To Brooklyn Bridge by Harold Hart Crane

to brooklyn bridge hart crane

Toward the end of the poem, the speaker stands beneath the bridge and is struck again by its sense of vitality. After he made a scene at the Café Select in Paris, the police clubbed him, dragged him by his feet one observer saw his head bounce over the curb , and threw him into a cell, where he was whipped with a rubber hose. The ecstatic utopian elements of The Bridge represent that generational consciousness perhaps better than any other work of literature. However, the poem also exists inside a modernist world. .

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To Brooklyn Bridge Themes

to brooklyn bridge hart crane

This description is in pointed contrast to the water around it, which is described as unnaturally chained and still. The bridge, apparently, symbolizes hope for many people, almost a religious hope of salvation in some way. What he felt about or did with other men, henceforth, he would keep mainly to himself. Her silly snake rings begin to mount, surmount Each other——turquoise fakes on tinselled hands. The steep encroachments of my blood left me No answer could blood hold such a lofty tower As flings the question true? The bridge is a "harp and altar" fused of fury, and the "prayer of pariah.

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What is to Brooklyn Bridge Hart Crane about?

to brooklyn bridge hart crane

Then, again the poet shifts from the description of the bridge to an insane who jumps off the bridge. The Bridge is a controversial work, with some critics arguing whether it is a lyric or an epic poem, and some agreeing that it is a mix between the two. Sprayed first with ruby, then with emerald sheen—— Least tearful and least glad who knows her smile? The not-yet-quite-understood poem also communicates by way of syntax, which may bring us closer to sense than sound did, but still stands apart. The Symbolism of the Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a symbol of American prosperity, innovation, and hope for the future. But, the out-worldly Stanza Four And Thee, across the harbor, silver paced As though the sun took step of thee yet left Some motion ever unspent in thy stride,— Implicitly thy freedom staying thee! The things that live and breathe in the poem, and on which it focuses its attention, are man-made, and often their construction is described.

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To Brooklyn Bridge by Hart Crane

to brooklyn bridge hart crane

Frank was not gay, which was significant: Crane felt he could speak about his love openly to him and be understood, without censure. That danger too was very real. At dawn, the image of the bridge seems out-worldly to the poet. It promised a meeting of minds, a rare intimacy, of the kind he found with Stieglitz. Moreover, the road also reflects starlight. When I grow up Nellie Wong summary? The next day, when he folded his coat neatly on the railing and jumped overboard, he had a black eye and bruises on his face.


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To Brooklyn Bridge Plot Summary

to brooklyn bridge hart crane

A symbol is a literary device that occurs throughout a work that ties into the larger themes of the work. Its shadow is only clear in the dark. It is important to note that Crane thought there were some parts of modern life that were negative, but that as America moved forward into a modern age, there was much hope for the future and for what humanity could accomplish. It searches for and purports to find spiritual grandeur in the man-made landscape, even if to find it the poet must create it for himself. Stanza Ten Under thy shadow by the piers I waited Only in darkness is thy shadow clear. The bells, I say, the bells break down their tower; And swing I know not where. Reviews of the poem were generally positive, and one or two were glowing.


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