Hart Crane (1899-1932)
"... [A]s a poet, I may very possibly be more interested in the so-called illogical impingements of the connotations of words on the consciousness ...than I am interested in the preservation of their logically rigid significations at the cost of limiting my subject matter and the perceptions involved in the poem...." [1]
Hart Crane fell head over heels for Emil Opffer in the spring of 1924.[2] A merchant marine, Opffer invited Crane to live with him at his father's place in Brooklyn that overlooked the East River. Crane was thrilled with the views of the Brooklyn Bridge. [3] From this relationship Crane wrote Voyages.
Hart Crane's father owned a candy manufacturing business and created the Life-Saver. [4] Born in Garrettsville, Ohio, July 21, 1899, Harold Hart Crane left high school without finishing and moved to New York. [5] During his childhood, Crane's environment was unsettled. In a review of John Unterecker's biography, "Voyager: A Life of Hart Crane," Helen Vendler cites a letter the twenty year-old Crane wrote to his mother in which he says, "...I think it's time you realized that for the past eight years my life has been a bloody battleground of your's and father's sex life and troubles." [6] Crane took 'Hart' from his mother's maiden name. [7] Vendler says Unterecker portrays his mother as "a nervous 'case'" who was prone to scenes and demands. [8]
He gained the respect of other poets from his poems that were published in the early 1920's in literary magazines. [9] Robert Lowell called Crane "the Shelley of my age," in his poem, "Words for Hart Crane."[10]
Crane's affair with Opffer did not last. He had several encounters with other men, many of them anonymous. [11] Despite living in New York, he is not known to have had a liaison with other artists there at the time. [12] He started to drink intensely in the 1920's [13] In 1931 he went to Mexico on a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was joined by a friend's wife with whom he is said to have had his only heterosexual affair. On the night before April 27, 1932, while returning from Mexico on a ship, he was reported to have been drinking and was beaten by a seaman to whom he had made a sexual advance. [14]
Witnesses say Crane cried out "Goodby, everybody!" preceding his leap into the sea at noon on the April 27. [15]
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Text of Voyages:
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http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172022
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References & Notes:
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[1] Hart Crane letter to Harriett Monroe, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign website: Modern American Poetry, Crane's "Logic of Metaphor," Assessed September 5, 2011
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/crane/metaphor.htm
[2] Modern American Poetry; Hart Crane: Biographical Sketch accessed September 11, 2011
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/crane/bio.htm
[3] [4][5]Wikipedia; Hart Crane Accessed September 11, 2011
[6] Helen Vendler, "The Terrible Details of Hart Crane's Life -- Necessary to an Understanding of His Poetry," New York Times, July 20, 1969
http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/07/18/specials/crane-voyager.html
[7] Modern American Poetry; Hart Crane: Biographical Sketch accessed September 11, 2011
[8] Helen Vendler, "The Terrible Details of Hart Crane's Life -- Necessary to an Understanding of His Poetry," New York Times, July 20, 1969
[9] [10]Wikipedia; Hart Crane Accessed September 11, 2011
[11] [12][13]Modern American Poetry; Hart Crane: Biographical Sketch accessed September 11, 2011
[14] [15] Wikipedia; Hart Crane Accessed September 11, 2011
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10:13
Voyages by Hart Craneby brychar662,136 views
Thank you James for this very fine reading of Crane's verse.
arcanus121 5 months ago
I can only echo Ida's comments concerning the masterful way you combined images with words, I got lost in those scenes of the sea.
andrewnorris2 5 months ago
Impressive video editing. Excellent reading. Thanks for the nature video link.
Idlinfarm 5 months ago