Bridges

Response Question:

The proem or opening of Hart Crane's famous poem "The Bridge" is filled with religious and sacred words and images. In this response explore the following question: how does Crane use figurative language (metaphor, simile) to transform the icon of the machine age and industry—the Brooklyn Bridge—into a sacred object?

Background:

“On the Brooklyn Bridge, I feel deeply moved, as if in the presence of a new divinity or religion,” wrote painter Joseph Stella, who made numerous pictures of the bridge. Critic Lewis Mumford agreed that the bridge was inspirational: “More than any other aspect of New York, the Brooklyn Bridge has been a source of inspiration to the artist . . . all that the age had just cause for pride in: its advances in science, its skill in handling iron, its personal heroism in the face of dangerous industrial processes, its willingness to attempt the untried and the impossible . . . " By contrast, many contemporaries felt that there was something unnatural about the size and span of the bridge. A great work of engineering is a battle against nature—a battle against a divinely-ordained natural order of things, opponents claimed. Citing the twenty workers killed in the construction of the bridge, some warned against its dangers. Others, like Hart Crane, agreed with Stella and Mumford that the bridge was an inspirational, almost divine achievement.

Gathering evidence from the poem:

Begin by collecting specific examples from the poem. Focus specifically on two registers of language: the sacred/religious and the profane/manmade

LANDSCAPE BRIDGE

natural man-made

divine engineered

sacred profane

religious secular

Identify words, phrases, metaphors, and figures from “The Bridge: A Proem”. Develop a thesis about how the poem represents the Brooklyn Bridge.

Helpful hints for organizing the paper:

This paper asks you to look at a productive ambiguity or tension: between nature/civilization; and sacred/profane. Literary authors often employ such tensions, and often use competing registers of language to explore them. Circle as many points of comparison as you can find, and circle/underline them. Select 3-4 points of comparison, and then organize each paragraph around an example of an image of the sacredness of the bridge that you find in the poem.

The Proem read aloud by Tennessee Williams

The Bridge construction, esp beginning at 7:30

Concerning Hart Crane esp beg 11:50

Yale Critic Harold Bloom on Crane

Context: The Bridge: (Andrew Johnston)

The building of the Brooklyn Bridge was not a universally popular idea. At the time, Brooklyn and New York were separate cities, and support was needed from both in order for the progress to move forward. The infamous Boss Tweed, a corrupt political figure known for bribery, was asked to build support within New York for the bridge. It is rumored that Boss Tweed demanded a $65,000 in cash to bribe fellow politicians into supporting the bridge (that’s about $11.3 million dollars today). Moreover, Boss Tweed demanded that he be able to buy shares in the company that was building the bridge at an 80% discount.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma03/pricola/bridge/corporate.html

The funding of the bridge wasn’t the only concern. The wires were to be supplied by a fairly well known and reputable builder, J. Lloyd Haigh. He was chosen over another well-known competitor, Bessemer Steel, as the general belief was that his higher price was indicative of a better quality of steel more suited to the construction of such a large bridge. Roebling, the architect of the bridge, didn’t trust the steel and instructed his workers to go down to the factory and inspect the wire before it was spun into cables. It was discovered that Haigh had attempted to both bribe inspectors and hide the fact that much of the wire was below the required quality. By the time the fraud was discovered, it was too late; Roebling instead strengthened other aspects of the bridge to compensate for the poor quality cables.d

http://www.structuremag.org/?p=10604 (see also http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A04E6D91738E23ABC4850DFB4678382669FDE )

The poor quality of the materials wasn’t the only thing that threatened the success of the bridge; a number of workers died or were severely injured during its construction. While laying the foundations for the bridges (i.e. the “caissons”) a number of workers developed what is known today as decompression sickness. Even Roebling was injured by the disease, to the point where he was unable to supervise the completion of the bridge personally. Moreover, workers were without modern safety equipment, so some workers died from falling (from heights as great as 276 feet) or by being crushed by building materials. While no official tally was kept, estimates range from 20-30 workers died during construction.

http://roeblingplay.com/history.html (see also http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-brooklyn-bridge )

Hart Crane and “The Bridge” – Background Research (Matt)

1. Crane was a highly “volatile” child who, throughout his life, suffered from low self-esteem. As he grew up, he was very much prone to substance abuse, particularly alcohol. He also felt pressure to keep his homosexuality a secret. He was raised under emotionally manipulative parents in a small Ohio town in the early 20th century. His mother needed his constant attention, while his father was the owner of a successful chocolate producer.

2. He was introduced to various art forms by a painter he met in Cleveland, where he was influenced by the likes of French writers such as Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud, as well as Irishmen William Butler Yates and James Joyce. Because of his socialization and attempts to learn from this type of crowd, he relied on his father for financial support, which created a rift between them

3. When Crane moved to New York, he was, like so many, inspired by what he saw and worked feverishly. To add to his newfound concrete muse, he enjoyed the company of sailors on frequent occasions. However, his stints in New York were short and frequent due to external that were dominated by the expectations of his family. These moves between Cleveland and New York occurred during the Great War and for a few years beyond. Whenever he was in New York, his unrequited and unresolved feelings for men plus the constant borderline emotional battery from his parents sent him into a bipolar state of mind. In one instance, he suffered a mental breakdown and fled for Woodstock.

4. Soon after, his mindset began to change. He fell in love with a sailor, Emil, which inspired “Voyages,” in which he sings (figuratively) loves praises. It is often lauded as Crane’s best work.

5. This led to creating his beginning and final drafts of “The Bridge” during the late 1920s, which describes his adoration of the Brooklyn Bridge. His intent was to spin T.S. Eliot’s more somber piece, “The Wasteland.” The poem is made up of 15 sections and sixty pages all together, with obscure images and references to Christopher Columbus and Rip Van Winkle.

6. After this creative burst, his poetic and personal life faded. He saw his grandmother and father pass within the year of 1928. He also began to receive negative criticism for “The Bridge,” even though he was awarded a lot of credit for attempting such a unique work. This only increased his continually self-destructive behavior. He lived out a few more years producing very underwhelming works, until his mental instability and self-abuse finally overtook his will. He committed suicide by jumping off a ship into the Gulf of Mexico at the ripe age of 32.