Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Favorite Poet, April 21, 2004
By A Customer
Crane may very well be poetry's last great romantic. Though certainly influenced by Eliot's advances in form, he rejected that poet's despair in favor of a grander, more mythic, and ultimately more affirmative vision of the world. (Ironic then, that he would die young by his own hand, while Eliot lived to be much older...). Crane's poetry is dense, soaked in language, shot through with a burning eroticism, and goverened by what he called "the logic of metaphor." Often enigmatic, labyrinthian or just plain opaque, his poetry is well worth the effort one may need to put in to appreciate it fully. And as with any great work of art, one can discover something new with every repeated reading. This is not a book that sits on your shelf collecting dust.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hart Crane's Poetry: "These the anguish are worth...", June 22, 2000
This collection of Crane's work is a poetry lover's dream. Without going into a critical analysis, (an excellent example is included in the forward of the book) I found his work engaging both intellectually and emotionally. Perhaps one of the most human and honest of poets, from his early work to his last poem, "The Broken Tower", his imagery is consistently refreshing, stimulating and, ultimately, very moving. Of particualr note are the lesser known poems of his youth. They are perhaps the most accessible to readers unaccustomed to poetry of this depth and density. "The Hive" is a wonderful expression of his own struggle as an artist. Also, the series "Voyages", written about his love affair with Emil Opffer, is a beautifully rendered poem using the power of the sea as a metaphor for their love. For readers familiar with the first edition, I found the new introduction a bit too dry and analytical. The original intro told more of Crane's life and the human struggles he went through and explained more about his suicide. I found that to be an invaluable guide to understanding much of what he expresses in the poetry. The new hardbound edition is beautifully layed out and gives justice to the sensitive work within it.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The bottom of the sea is cruel, May 26, 2004
In his poem "Voyages", from White Buildings, Hart Crane's poetry can be seen in a microcosm: seascapes, youth, time, incredible imagery and language in free verse form; and Love, both personal & cosmic. Crane is huge. He is also an acquired taste, and can be quite demanding to decipher. I've found myself having to re-read his poems multiple times, from different perspectives before grasping their sense. And even then, the "meaning" can be illusive. But this complete collection of his work by Marc Simon includes an insightful introduction by John Unterecker which helps put Crane's life and work into perspective. The singular fault with this book is that Simon's end-notes don't offer any insight into the poems themselves, and so the reader is left to fend for himself. On the one hand this is good in that it encourages self-reflection, and arriving at one's own interpretations. Many of his poems can and should be taken at face value. On the other hand, with Crane, sometimes there is more than meets the eye (i.e. In "Chaplinesque" one should know the Chaplin film, "The Kid" to fully understand the kitten image, and there are many allusions in "The Bridge" and other poems which a reader ought to familiarize himself with at some point) and so, having some literary criticism or background available is very helpful. I highly recommend Warner Berthoff's, "Hart Crane: A Re-Introduction" (University of Minnesota, 1989).Reading Hart Crane is rewarding, and enjoyable. It's a voyage in itself, full of twists and turns, sounds, objects, colors, senses, places, times, language, and history. "The Bridge" is his acclaimed epic, about the Brooklyn Bridge and America, and a must read for those interested in American poetry. Crane was definitely influenced by the revolutionary 19th century French poets Rimbaud and Laforgue, who like Crane, also led tragically short lives. Their lives and works, along with Walt Whitman (of, course) created ample material for modern American poetry, and Hart Crane is their magnificent heir (especially of Jules Laforgue's lyricism and colloquialisms). If you've never tried Crane before, than this is "the" collection to have. Allow Crane to show you his visions of the world from the inside out, take you on journeys across the ocean, and into the modern city and you'll be amazed at how daily life no longer seems so mundane.
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