Hart Crane

Hart Crane

Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Finding both inspiration and provocation in the poetry of T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, The Bridge, Crane sought to write an epic poem, in the vein of The Waste Land, that expressed a more optimistic view of modern, urban culture than the one that he found in Eliot's work. In the years following his suicide at the age of 32, Crane has been hailed by playwrights, poets, and literary critics alike (including Robert Lowell, Derek Walcott, Tennessee Williams, and Harold Bloom), as being one of the most influential poets of his generation.

Read more about Hart Crane:  Life and Work, Poetics, Depictions, Bibliography

Famous quotes by hart crane:

    “subways, rivered under streets
    and rivers . . . in the car
    the overtone of motion
    underground, the monotone
    of motion is the sound
    of other faces, also underground—”
    —Hart Crane (1899–1932)

    “each prison crypt,
    of canyoned traffic . . . Confronting the Exchange,
    Surviving in a world of stocks,—”
    —Hart Crane (1899–1932)

    “O brilliant kids, frisk with your dog,
    Fondle your shells and sticks, bleached
    By time and the elements; but there is a line
    You must not cross”
    —Hart Crane (1899–1932)

    “The stars have grooved our eyes with old persuasions
    Of love and hatred, birth,—surcease of nations . . .”
    —Hart Crane (1899–1932)

    “To course that span of consciousness thou’st named
    The Open Road—thy vision is reclaimed!
    What heritage thou’st signalled to our hands!”
    —Hart Crane (1899–1932)