Discussion Topic
Hart Crane's use of literary devices in honoring the Brooklyn Bridge in "To Brooklyn Bridge"
Summary:
Hart Crane honors the Brooklyn Bridge in "To Brooklyn Bridge" through vivid imagery, personification, and symbolism. He uses rich, descriptive language to paint the bridge as a majestic and almost divine structure. By personifying the bridge, Crane elevates it to a symbol of human achievement and connection, reflecting its significance in the urban landscape and its impact on the human spirit.
What literary devices does Hart Crane use in "To Brooklyn Bridge"?
In “To Brooklyn Bridge,” Hart Crane employs a large number of literary devices. In the poem as a whole, the speaker uses apostrophe, direct address to an absent person, an idea, or an object. Other devices are assonance, alliteration, consonance, and simile.
In this use of apostrophe, the bridge itself is addressed, using “thou,” which is the informal (now archaic) form of you. This device becomes apparent in stanza 4, which begins, “And Thee, across the harbor.”
Crane makes frequent use of assonance and alliteration. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds between words near each other. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of a word. He sometimes combines it with consonance, the repetition of consonant sounds elsewhere in a word.
Assonance is prominently featured in stanza 1, especially in the short i sound that appears in “chill,” “rippling,” “wings,” “dip,” “pivot,”...
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“shedding,” “rings,” “building,” and “liberty.” It is also used in the longi sound of “white” and “high” and the long a sound of “chained bay.” Alliteration is featured in the r of “rippling rest” and the s and closely related sh of “seagull’s,” “shall,” and “shedding.” This is combined with consonance using s as the final sound of numerous words.
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—
Further instances of alliteration and consonance using s and sh appear in stanza 5: “subway scuttle, cell,” “speeds,” “shrill shirt,” and “sails.”
A simile is a comparison of unlike things for effect using like or as. In stanzas 1 and 2, the “seagull’s wings” are compared to “sails.” This is combined with a metaphor, a direct comparison of unlike things, as the sails are said to cross pages, thus comparing to numbers:
As apparitional as sails that cross
Some page of figures to be filed away.
How does Hart Crane honor the Brooklyn Bridge in "To Brooklyn Bridge"?
In his poem “To Brooklyn Bridge,” Hart Crane offers a kind of veneration to this New York landmark, recognizing its permanence and the power and freedom it symbolizes.
In the midst of the busyness and tumult of the city, the bridge stands in the sunshine, reflecting the light of the sun that seems to step across the bridge. It is solid, permanent, yet in the light, it seems to have a certain motion as well that suggests a freedom and energy that almost belong to a living being. This bridge is so much a part of the city that it is more than a landmark; it is something of a resident.
As the speaker watches, a man jumps from the bridge and falls into the water. People just pass by, hardly noticing. For this man, the bridge has become an escape, although we must wonder whether this act will truly prove to be an escape or whether the bridge actually has a sinister side.
The speaker continues by comparing the bridge to the “heaven of the Jews,” a place of “vibrant reprieve and pardon” with a kind of “harp and altar” of its own. The bridge, apparently, symbolizes hope for many people, almost a religious hope of salvation in some way. This could allude to the hope that America has symbolized for many generations of immigrants who, since the bridge's opening in 1883, have looked upon it as a wonder.
Toward the end of the poem, the speaker stands beneath the bridge and is struck again by its sense of vitality. It it sleepless, just like the river, and it represents the dreams of many Americans.