The Bridge Criticism
Hart Crane’s The Bridge is a seminal work in American literature, capturing the poet's ambitious vision of an American epic. Influenced by romantic visionaries like William Blake and Walt Whitman, Crane sought to encapsulate the essence of the American experience, using the Brooklyn Bridge as a central symbol of promise and modernity. This engineering marvel serves not only as a historical object but also as a metaphor for American spiritual and artistic aspirations, as noted in Hart Crane's Myth: The Brooklyn Bridge.
The Bridge, which Crane worked on over seven years, stands as a counter-narrative to T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land, aiming to forge a positive American mythology. Structurally, it is a symphonic rather than a traditional narrative, as The Structure of Hart Crane's The Bridge observes. The poem's sections, from "Ave Maria" to "Atlantis," weave together historical and fictional figures significant to America's development, exploring themes of spiritual quests and individual experience. As A Poetics for 'The Bridge' suggests, understanding Crane's poetic approach is key to appreciating the work's genius.
Initially, The Bridge faced criticism for its perceived lack of unity and coherence, with early reviewers questioning Crane's symbolic execution and historical understanding. However, modern critics have reassessed its value, recognizing its portrayal of a spiritual journey and its contribution to American literary tradition. While it may fall short as a comprehensive epic of American history, it triumphs in illustrating an intricate spiritual quest, embodying the American sublime as articulated in Toward a Poetics of Technology: Hart Crane and the American Sublime.
Contents
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Essays
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An introduction to The Bridge: A Poem by Hart Crane
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In the following essay, Frank discusses the ways in which Crane represents the quintessential poet of modern America.
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The Structure of Hart Crane's The Bridge
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In the following essay, Slote defends The Bridge against critical charges of lacking structure, noting in particular Crane's own assertion that the poem is symphonic in structure rather than adhering to a traditional narrative form.
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Hart Crane's Myth: The Brooklyn Bridge
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In the following essay, Arpad attempts to uncover the Platonic sources for Crane's myth of the Brooklyn Bridge.
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The Writing of 'The Bridge': 1923-1929
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In the following essay, Butterfield attempts to account for the disunity within The Bridge by examining the circumstances surrounding its composition.
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The 'Super Historical' Sense of Hart Crane's The Bridge
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In the following essay, Rowe examines the 'anti-poetic' nature of the primary symbol of the bridge.
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A Divided Self: The Poetic Responsibility of Hart Crane with Respect to 'The Bridge '
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In the following essay, Schwartz explains the fragmentation of The Bridge by discussing the ways in which Crane's temperament and training were actually unsuitable to the writing of such a poem.
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A Poetics for 'The Bridge '
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In the following essay, Ramsey argues that readers must have a clear idea of the poetics of The Bridge in order to appreciate Crane's genius.
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Two Views of 'The Bridge '
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In the following essay, Cowley explains what he sees as two different ways to read The Bridge: "integrationists," who assert that the poem has a unified plot and vision, and "dispersionists," who believe that the poem is inherently and deliberately fragmented.
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Theme and Free Variation: The Scoring of Hart Crane's 'The Bridge'
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In the following essay, Sharp considers The Bridge as a piece of modern music.
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Cultural Revisions in the Twenties: Brooklyn Bridge as "Usable Past"
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In the following essay, Trachtenberg discusses The Bridge as a landmark of the 1920s cultural and aesthetic vision.
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Toward a Poetics of Technology: Hart Crane and the American Sublime
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In the following essay, Chaffin contends that The Bridge is most properly read as exemplary of representations of the sublime in American literature.
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The Bridge
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In the following essay, Dickie discusses the problems Crane encountered in dealing with the form of the long modernist poem.
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The Success of Failure: Hart Crane's Revisions of Whitman and Eliot in 'The Bridge'
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In the following essay, Schultz considers the use Crane made of the works T. S. Eliot and Walt Whitman in writing The Bridge.
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The Bridge: 'Too Impossible An Ambition?'
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In the following essay, Berthoff uses other criticism and Crane's own correspondence to evaluate the success or failure of The Bridge.
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Back Home Again in India: Hart Crane's 'The Bridge '
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In the following essay, Irwin focuses on the question of self and national origin in the 'Indiana' section of The Bridge.
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"Our Native Clay': Racial and Sexual Identity and the Making of Americans in 'The Bridge '
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In the following essay, Gardner discusses Crane's notion of racial and sexual identity in The Bridge.
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An introduction to The Bridge: A Poem by Hart Crane
(summary)
- Further Reading