Introduction Hart Crane, Bridging, and History

Abstract

Although Hart Crane is acknowledged for his gifts as a lyric poet, another facet of his career has been neglected in critical commentary. Despite his reputation in lyric—the “musicality” of his lines, the intriguing (though difficult) density of his language and imagery—he was also all too conscious of genre and the architectonics of form. His formal interests intersect with his aspirations to be a “cultural” poet, and to write a symbolic history in The Bridge. The Bridge is a narrative of these ambitions and the problems Crane encountered in departing from his natural lyric voice.