Hart Crane and The Bridge

Some Notes on The Bridge

Symbols
The poem has the Brooklyn Bridge undoubtedly as the central symbol, along with other symbols including the water, the unifying flux, metropolis, Columbus, Pocahontas, Rip Van Winkle, Whitman, the subway, etc.
The Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge (1869-83) was "the first great suspension bridge in the United States that had cables formed from parallel steel wires that were spun in place. This fundamental method is still used today." It "links the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan across the East River in New York City" (cf. "Proem" l. 4). It "carries six lanes of traffic on a span of 486 m." "New York City honored the bridge with a gala centennial celebration in 1983."
(The above text on the Brooklyn Bridge includes the quotations written by Sir Hubert Shirley-Smith in The Academic American Encyclopedia (1995 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Version), copyright (c) 1995 Grolier, Inc. Danbury, CT. )


Last updated: 31 October, 1996
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