Crane, Mayakovsky, Wilson and the Brooklyn Bridge Poems

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most iconic engineering feats in New York City. Construction started in 1869 and it took fourteen years for the bridge to be finished, opening in 1893. The building of the bridge proved to be dangerous, claiming the lives two dozen people and cost $15 millions dollars in that time, which equates to about $320 million today. The bridge spans over New York City’s East River and connects Brooklyn and Manhattan. A German immigrant, John Roebling, who he died during the construction phase, originated the idea for the bridge. The bridge stretches a total length of 5,989 feet and the span between the large towers measure 1,595.5 feet, which at the time made the Brooklyn Bridge the world’s largest suspension bridge.

Bridge During Construction:

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/05/22/130_years_of_brooklyn_bridge_photos_decade_by_decade.php

Hart Crane: ‘To Brooklyn Bridge’

Crane (1889-1932) was an American poet who came to New York from Cleveland, Ohio. His poetry became known for being ecstatic and his use of rhetorical verse. His poem, ‘To Brooklyn Bridge’ is a prelude to a longer poem entitled, ‘The Bridge.’ The poems were inspired by experiences he had while living in Brooklyn Heights in an apartment with a view of the bridge in the distance. Crane described his location adjacent to the bridge in a 1924 letter to his family, describing the bridge as ‘the most superb piece of construction in the modern world.’ His works regarding the Brooklyn Bridge was both inspired and provoked by the work of TS Elliot, in particular ‘The Wasteland.’ Crane’s work aimed to be more optimistic regarding modern and urban culture. Elliot’s ‘The Wasteland’ holds a negative view on modern culture and the reason he wrote the poem was because he believed modern people simply did not care about and were not passionate about anything. He intentionally made the poem hard to follow, with many different speakers and references to classic literature, almost challenging readers to read further if they do not understand a reference. 

TS Elliot’s ‘The Wasteland’: http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html

In ‘To Brooklyn Bridge’ Crane is speaking to the bridge, admiring it from afar because of its immense size and beauty. He notes how the sun hits the bridge and admires the way the bridge seems to hang free in the air. A person runs to the top of one of the towers, pauses for a moment and then jumps to their death. Crane discusses an obscurity the bridge possesses. The bridge seems to represent the anonymity of people and, much like time, makes them feel small and anonymous. This explains why the identity of the person who jumps is not noted (gender, age etc.) and they are just a stranger seen from afar. As night falls on the bridge, Crane sees the lights on the bridge as endless, again drawing a parallel to the bridge and the passage of time, comparing the bridge to an eternity. Throughout the poem, Crane uses many religious symbols, calling the bridge ‘obscure as that Heaven of the Jews’ in reference to a mysterious heaven in Jewish scriptures. He also ends the poem asking the bridge ‘of the curveship lend a myth to God,’ meaning to descend a level and fill a gap God has left.

Vladimir Mayakovsky: Brooklyn Bridge

Mayakovsky (19893-1930) was a Russian poet and member of the Social Democratic Labour Party. As a child, he was dismissed from grammar school and spent time in prison due to political activities with the Labour Party. His early poetry showed him to be an originator of a writing style called Russian Futurism, which rejected traditional elements of poetry to favor experimentation. Mayakovsky’s works lacked a traditional metrical structure and he rather relied on forceful rhythms and street language that was viewed as not poetic at the time. He wrote the poem in 1925 while visiting the United States. He viewed himself as being ‘larger than life’ and in his writing is saluting the bridge as an equal, from one large force to another.

He begins the poem by marveling at the physical size and beauty of the bridge. He compares himself to a devout religious follower entering a great church, humbled by what he sees. He also feels like a conqueror and feels ‘drunk with power’ and ‘clambers with pride’ when he set foot on the bridge. He feels a sense of great pride when thinking of the bridge, which is sort of odd seeing that he is not a native of the US but is from Russia. He is so in awe that he goes as far as saying that if the world was to end, the bridge would not only survive and withstand the world ending but be the influence in future people recreating the modern world. He goes into a darker area of his writing, referencing the many people that come to the bridge to commit suicide. This is interesting because in the first few lines he writes ‘I too will spare no words about good things’ and intends to write only good things about the bridge. He sees future generations acknowledging the bridge where he was inspired to write his greatest work as he see the bridge as place of great inspiration.

Edmund Wilson: The Finale at the Follies and Thoughts of Leaving New York for New Orleans

Edmund Wilson, born in New Jersey on May 8, 1895, had a formal education, which was gained through attending prep school and Princeton. At Princeton he befriended F. Scott Fitzgerald. They were lifelong friends and Wilson even edited his final books, ''The Last Tycoon'' and ''The Crack-Up''. He would go on to review books for Vanity Fair. Edmund Wilson was the first person to review Hemmingway. He believed Hemmingway’s work to be a ''distinctively American development in prose.'' Hemingway declared that Wilson's opinion was the only one ''in the States I have any respect for''. He went from there to be the literary editor of the New Republic sharing his concern of culture with his readers. This is where our two texts come from. Once the depression hit, Edmund Wilson turned to political topics. This led to his travel of various countries and production of one of his most famous works, ''To the Finland Station''. It looked at the different views of how society should be ran in Europe. Wilson then joined the New Yorker and a few years later was confronted on writing his views on the ongoing war (WWII), which he was completely against the US joining, let alone the ways they acted. He focused on this for years to follow. When the Cold War started, again he was against the one up way of America. He even refused to pay federal taxes at the time to prove a point. He wrote a book on the topic and explained he was not paying for America wanting to impose democracy. He actually received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Kennedy in 1968 (Johnson, however, performed the ceremony) and acquitted some of his tax evasion charges. He went on to teach at Wesley University. He died on June 12, 1972.

The Finale at the Follies is a description of a dress rehearsal of the finale for musical that is set in Mexico. From the scenery (mission and cactuses) and from the costumes (sombreros). The text is a typical newspaper description.

The Thoughts of Leaving New York for New Orleans(1926) is also an account of what Wilson sees, but set in poetry. Every stanza is a different scene from different types of New Yorkers and areas of New York on a typical winter night. Each stanza includes less than three sentences. He points of every walk of life actions/thoughts that others would not know in the beginning. Wilson injects a line of about the scenery vague every now and then. The second half is descriptions of specific places and their residence. The first part of this half is the actions of these people and the second is how everyone is contradicting themselves or others.

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/books/review/04TOIBIN.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Wilson#.22Edmund_Wilson_Regrets....22

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think Crane succeeded in writing a poem more optimistic then Elliot's? Why, do you think, if he was trying to sound optimistic, would he include the anonymity of a stranger committing suicide?

2. What do the religious symbols add to the poem and what do they say about the Brooklyn Bridge itself?

3. What effect does the format of the text of Mayakovsky's poem have? Why do you think Mayakovsky wrote his poem in this style?

4. Why do you think Mayakovsky would express such pride in an American engineering feat when he himself was Russian?

5. Why, if promising only good words in the opening lines, does Mayakovsky (and Crane, for that matter) reference the suicides that occurred on the bridge?

6. Why do you believe Wilson wrote The Thoughts of Leaving New York for New Orleans as a poem, unlike his other review?

7. What problem(s) do you believe he was trying to highlight?

8. Do you think Wilson favored a set of people? (Remember he was a close friend of Fitzgerald)

9. What was Wilson's motive for the title?