The Silken Skilled Transmemberment of Song:

Hart Crane’s struggles with love in poetry

Daniel P Wheaton

Stanley Blackmore

Honors American Literature

14 May 2010

Wheaton 1

Thesis: Hart Crane’s struggles with homosexual relationships are shown in his poetry which

celebrates love while Crane often struggled in finding it

I. Biography

A. July 21 1899, Garrettsville Ohio

B. Parents’ relationship

1. Fights

2. His mother’s struggles

C. Move to New York City

1. New lifestyle

2. Emil Opffner

D. The Bridge

1. Major Work

2. Response to The Wasteland

E. Suicide

1. April 27 1933

2. Jumped off of boat

II. Hart Crane’s struggles with love are shown in his poetry that celebrates love where Crane

failed in seeking it.

A. “Garden Abstract”

1. Unrequited love

a. lines 1-2

2. Solution by living vicariously

b. lines 9-12

Wheaton 2

B.” My Grandmother’s Love Letters”

1. connection to her

a. lines 18-22

2. speaker is unable to show his love letters to her

a. lines 23-26

C. “Wine Menagerie”

1. Alcohol as redeemer

a. line 1

2. Alcohol as double edged sword

a. lines 38-40

D. “Voyages”

1. [Above the fresh ruffles of the surf]

a. Setting of the sea

i. lines 1-5

b. innocence, the first stage of love

ii. lines 6-12

c. warning of love’s dangers

i. lines 13-16

2. [--And yet this great wink of eternity,]

a. love growing

i. lines 22-23

b. love as music

i. line 30

Wheaton 3

ii. direct reference to Opffer

3. [Infinite consanguinity it bears--]

a. love as a bond

i. lines 40-45

b. connected souls

i. lines 49-55

c. ecstasy of love

i. 56-60

4. [Whose counted smile of hours and days, suppose]

a. love as a positive burden

i. line 65

b. love waxes and wanes and creates new love

i. lines 74-76

5. [Meticulous, past midnight in clear rime,]

a. communication becomes difficult

i. lines 90-95

b. drifting away isn’t necessarily bad

ii. lines 100-110

6. [Where icy and bright dungeons lift]

a. end of relationship

i. lines 115-120

b. love leaves lingering connections

i. line 129

Wheaton 4

III. Conclusion

Wheaton 5

Daniel P Wheaton

Stanley Blackmore

Honors American Literature

14 May 2010

The Silken Skilled Transmemberment of Song:

Hart Crane’s struggles with Love in Poetry

Hart Crane once said “Let my lusts be my ruin, for all else is fake and mockery” this

statement sadly become prophetic on an April evening in the Gulf of Mexico. Hart Crane, an

American Poet from the turn of the century is noted for writing in praise of the common things in

life. He was seen as a poet that, unlike some of his contemporizes, saw positive things in life. His

major work The Bridge seeks to embrace America but, even with a positive outlook, Crane also

had other struggles. Hart Crane’s struggles with homosexual relationships are shown in his

poetry, which celebrate love while Crane often failed in seeking it. His struggles in early life

shaped the poet that he would become.

Harold Hart Crane was born in Garrettsville, Ohio on July 21st 1899. His parents did not

have a happy relationship and their conflicts shaped the poet that Crane would become. His

father often argued with his mother and their marriage did not last long. After a separation in

1908 they finally divorced in 1917 (Poetry Foundation). However, throughout their separation

Hart remained close to his mother. When he was 20 he wrote to his mother “I don’t want to fling

accusations at anybody, but I think its time you realized that for the last eight years my youth has

been a rather bloody battleground for yours and father’s sex life and troubles” (Vendler). Even

Wheaton 6

though he had a rough upbringing, he used their divorce to his advantage. In 1917 he convinced

his parents to let him move to New York. Even before this, he had begun to write poetry, his

works were occasionally published in the local newspaper.

While in New York, Hart Crane wasn’t entirely free from his parents. He traveled back

and forth from New York and worked in his father’s chocolate manufacturing business (Modern

American Poetry). It was at this point at which Hart was finally discovering his personal identity.

He had his first relationship with a sales clerk in Akron, Ohio and from then on he was a semi-

closeted homosexual. New York was also a haven for poetry, but also a haven for Crane as a

homosexual. Oddly enough, he spent considerable time around the Brooklyn Bridge looking for

casual sex, while years later the Brooklyn Bridge would be the title of his masterpiece.

His poetry grew in these early years but his mature style had not fully materialized. His

first poetry collection White Buildings had one well known poem “Chaplinesque” that celebrated

Charlie Chaplin. A poem that foreshadowed the epic nature of The Bridge was “The Marriage of

Faustus and Helen” which was indicative of Hart Crane’s emotional state at the time. In 1924,

his poetry had a shift in tone. Some critics attribute this to the short-lived relationship with a

Danish merchant seaman Emil Opffner. He references him in his poem “Voyages” in the lines

“And onward, as bells off San Salvador/ Salute the crocus lusters of the stars” (Crane) At this

point he began to write The Bridge his intention in it was to embrace America. It also was seen

as a response to T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland. In The Wasteland Eliot states that the lack of

relationships has lead to us living in a wasteland. Hart believed that love created connections to

people and that Eliot’s message was intrinsically wrong.

From 1928 onward Hart Crane indulged more in his unstable lifestyle. Friends noted that

his hair was graying at an accelerated rate and his facial features were become less pronounced.

Wheaton 7

By 1930 this deterioration became more intense, but he set out to do something comparable to

The Bridge. He wished to write an “Aztec Epic” that would glorify the past of the Americas. He

failed however, and during this journey to Mexico he had a brief relationship with a woman,

Peggy Baird. On April 27 1933 he committed suicide by jumping off of the ship that was

returning to the United States. Reports vary on what actually went on (Reed) some state that he

was brutally attacked after flirting with a sailor, causing him to feel hopeless. All of them do

state that he bid farewell to Peggy, and before jumping off the ship he shouted “Goodbye,

Everybody”. His grave marker in Garrettsville Ohio reads “Hart Crane – LOST AT SEA –“

The theme of love and connections is present in Crane’s early poetry. A poem from his

first published collection “Garden Abstract” is written from the perspective of loving someone

but that love not being reciprocated. This fits in with the timeline of Hart Crane’s life; prior to

1924 he had not constant relations with anybody so this poem is an example of his emotional

state at that time:

The apple on its bough is her desire-

Shining suspension, mimic of the sun

The bough has caught her breath up, and her voice,

Dumbly articulate in the slant and rise

Of branch on branch above her, blurs her eyes.

She is prisoner of the tree and its green fingers. (Hart 500)

It is apparent that the speaker wants something from the tree. This has multiple meanings.

From the biblical perspective, the person seeks some form of forbidden knowledge. If you factor

in Crane’s sexuality, the apple could personify the forbidden knowledge of another man. But

Crane doesn’t limit himself to just writing about his views, and even though a homosexual angle

Wheaton 8

could be applied it can limit your understanding of his poetry. The apple could be a specific

person, but it is better to view it in a wider perspective. At this point she is so consumed with the

knowledge that she wants to become the tree. In the following stanza she does so, and imagines

herself as the tree. When applied to Hart’s theme of love and connections, her love for another

person is limited. She is unable to do anything about it so she simply lives vicariously.

Connections made by love aren’t just necessarily between lovers. Sometimes these

connections can even transcend death itself. If connections between people can be understood, a

greater understanding of them can be obtained. This is present in another one of Hart’s poems

“My Grandmother’s Love Letters”. The first fifteen lines of the poem set the stage of its thesis,

Hart describes finding his Grandmother’s Love Letters and describes their age. This also had

personal significance to Hart because the death of his maternal grandmother effected his mother

greatly, which altered the connection between Hart and his mother. Hart seems to understand his

grandmother’s relationship with her suitor, and then he asks the converse to himself. He then

comes to the conclusion that his mother could not understand his relationships:

Yet I would lead my grandmother by the hand

Through much of what she would not understand;

And so I stumble. And the rain continues on the roof

With such a sound of gently pitying laughter. (Crane 600-1)

Hart Crane also shows his positive tone in this poem, but he also understands what other

people thought of his lifestyle. This poem shows his struggles with relationships, and his

understanding of the connections that they leave. The Final line also suggests that Hart Crane

understands the connection between his Grandmother and her suitor, while she would be unable

Wheaton 9

to understand his relationship with any man. But the words gently pitying laughter makes it seem

like he forgives his grandmother for her shortcoming.

As a man searching for love in New York City, Hart Crane was not a stranger to the

negative sides of relationships. He often spent time in speak-easies looking for a new person to

date with, throughout the years; Hart Crane became a heavy drinker and wrote about the altered

state. In “Wine Menagerie” Hart Crane writes of alcohol as a transformative thing that has both

negative and positive qualities:

Invariably when wine redeems the sight,

Narrowing the mustard scansions of the eyes,

A leopard ranging always in the brow

Asserts a vision in the slumbering gaze (Hart 603-604)

Hart Crane first states that wine creates a new perspective on the world; he takes a neutral

position at the opening of the poem. In the next stanza the “glozening descanters that reflect the

street” become more normal, while they are usually seen as strange. Hart Crane puts this in

musical terms and the descants as people are a descant on the usual melody of life. Then as they

drink more the speaker is drawn into the new world created by the wine.

The third stanza describes the descent into the new world, the “forceps of the smile” takes

a woman downward and she becomes sweaty. The tone becomes more strange as the speaker

becomes more inebriated, in the sixth stanza the speaker notes on those who have been harmed

by drunkenness and had their connections to people broken. He describes them as poor streaked

bodies writhing, due to the pain of loss. In the end of the poem, he states the good and the bad of

‘the wine menagerie’ by stating “Invent new dominos of love and bile…” Hart Crane seems fully

aware of the greater transformative qualities of alcohol and how they can cause bridges to be

Wheaton 10

burnt or end in a positive manner. “Wine Menagerie” is both a celebration of the transformative

qualities of alcohol, and a slight warning to its negative effects. He accomplishes this without

being didactic, and if he and done so he would have been somewhat hypocritical. This also

shows Hart Crane’s struggles with relationships throughout his life, and that he had a complete

understanding of what could go wrong. But, even though he failed in love often, he still knew

enough of it to write a series of poems about it, collectively known as “Voyages”

The six poems that comprise “Voyages” were written in 1924, during Hart Crane’s brief

relationship with the Merchant Seaman Emil Offner. This was the only relationship –save from

his last- to be mentioned in biographies of him. He wrote on April 21st to Waldo Frank about his

new lover “For many days, now, I have gone about quite dumb with something for which

happiness must be too mild a term”. However, the relationship between Emil Offner and Hart

Crane sometimes skews the viewpoint of poetic critics. Although, like “Garden Abstract”, it can

be interprated as a celebration of homosexual love, it deserves a wider viewpoint than that. The

six poems are denoted by roman numerals. The first poem serves as both a warning to the

innocent and sets up the stage. The first two stanzas of the poem describe children playing on the

beach, the speaker wishes to warn them of the harsh realities of the sea which personifies love:

And in answer to their treble interjections

The sun beats lightning on the waves,

The waves fold thunder on the sand;

And could they hear me I would tell them:

O brilliant kids, frisk with your dog

Fondle your shells and sticks, bleached

Wheaton 11

By time and the elements; but there is a line

You must not cross nor even trust beyond it

Spry cordage of your bodies to caress

Too lichen-faithful form too wide a breast

The bottom of the sea is cruel (Crane 608-609)

Innocence can be interoperated a variety of ways. Paul Sherman states that the opening

phrase of “Bright striped urchins flay each other with sand/ They have contrived a conquest for

shell shucks” is used to show the speaker’s jaded stance do to his struggles with love, and his

tone makes his warning seem even more powerful. (Sherman) The children ask questions with

their “treble interjections’ but they are only answered by the waves. The speaker wishes to warn

them but the children cannot hear him. Sherman writes that “For the sea is a cruel mother, at

once too possessive and indifferent. The love she offers is superficial and deceptive.” It is clearly

summed up in the final line “The bottom of the sea is cruel”.

A more biased interpretation can be taken from a homosexual perspective, as written by

Brain Reed (Reed) he states that the word choice suggests that the children are doing more than

simply playing. He suggests that the use of “frisk” and “fondle” suggest that the children may be

participating in foreplay. If this interpretation is accepted, the children are inching closer to

losing their innocence and crossing the line warned by the speaker. This perspective is limiting it

its scope, it makes the rest of the poems seem to be about carnal knowledge instead of love. This

is somewhat limiting, and even though Hart Crane was somewhat libidinous his poetry is a

celebration of love and connections, and not of sexual relations.

The second part of “Voyages” is a journey to love, or love growing. The first stanza is the

initial departure, and the next two stanzas further suggest a journey:

Wheaton 12

Take this Sea, whose diapason knells

On scrolls of silver snows sentences

The sceptred terror of whose sessions rends

As her demeanors motion well or ill,

All but pieties of lovers’ hands.

And onward, as the bells of San Salvador

Salute the crocus luster’s of the stars,

In these poinsettia meadows of her tides,--

Adagios of islands, O my Prodigal

Complete the dark confessions her veins spell. (Crane 609)

The first line of the second stanza describes the sea calling out to the speaker. The terms

“diapason knells” suggest the sea’s calls resonate harmoniously – apparently at A 440, A 220

and so on… – but with an ominous tone. The tone is carried throughout the stanza which reflects

on the speakers warning at the end of [Above the fresh ruffles of the surf].

The third stanza is much lighter, however. The mention of San Salvador is a direct

reference to Emil Offner, referring to a legend of a sunken city near San Salvador that Emil

would have been familiar with. The next two lines suggest the destination to be a floral paradise

which describes the beauty of love. The next line also refers to the musical quality of the sea by

describing the islands as Adagios, as if the islands appear like notes do to the ear. The final

stanzas of [--And yet this great wink of eternity] bring back the theme of a floral paradise. The

speaker begs deities to “bend us in time” as if to extend this journey even longer. Reed suggests

that [-- And yet this great wink of eternity] is a calling out to Emil Offner, him being the

Wheaton 13

“Prodigal Son” who will return after a departure. He also suggests that the final stanza

“Bequeath us to no earthly shore until/ is answer in the vortex of our grave/ the seal’s wide

spindrift gaze toward paradise” is a Cranian equivalent to “ I less than three you”. Nevertheless,

[--And yet this great wink of eternity] is the growth of love personified in a voyage to sea.

[Infinite consanguinity it bears--] is the climactic poem in this series. The first lines bring

back Hart Crane’s wider theme of love and connections by saying “Infinite consanguinity it

bears—“ this means that the love relationship is akin to a blood relationship, and is incredibly

strong. The sea also lightens during the first stanza, it lifts its ancient hands, so in the metaphor

of the sea voyage, things have calmed down and the sea is less cruel. When applied to the

extended metaphor of a relationship, things have come to a peace and it is blissful. The second

half of the poem restates all of this in an even more dramatic way.

And so, admitted through black swollen gates

That must arrest all distance otherwise—

Past whirling pillars and lithe pediments,

Light wrestling there incessantly with light,

Star kissing star through wave on wave unto

Your body rocking!

And where death, if shed,

Presumes no carnage, but this single change, --

Upon the steep floor flung from dawn to dawn

The silken skilled transmemberment of song;

Permit me voyage, love, into your hands… (Crane 610)

Wheaton 14

The first line is somewhat misleading, we associate black with something negative or

evil, but in this case the black swollen gates are the gates to the soul. They are black because the

outsides have been weathered by time and the elements and passing through them is a

complicated task. The next two lines describe the journey towards the soul of the beloved, which

reflects on the first sentence of the entire poem “infinite consanguinity it bears”. The next few

lines describe the blissfulness of love. The light wrestling, kissing, and rocking are just the

actions of the lovers in their mutual bliss. Crane takes this to the height of a hyperbole by the line

“upon the steep floor flung from dawn to dawn” which suggests that the lovers are continuing

this for all time. However, if Crane meant with their hearts this statement is entirely plausible. If

so, the celebration of the mutual connection can go on from dawn to dawn. This poem climaxes

with the line “The silken skilled transmemberment of song” the raw emotions of the lovers are so

strong that Crane needs a new word to describe it. Transmemberment describes the energy and

power of love. After this dramatic stanza, the final line brings the power of emotion together in

one simple statement that reassures the love of the two lovers.

At this point in “Voyages”, the bridge between the lovers has been constructed,

their souls have bonded, transmembered if you will. [Whose counted smile of hours and days,

suppose] is love fully matured. The lines in the first stanza “Whose circles bridge, I know, (from

palms to the severe/ Chilled albatross’s white immutability)” suggest that love is quite a burden,

but unlike the albatross in The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner it is a good thing to bear. The last

line “Through clay aflow immortality to you” states that even though people may look for

negative things in each other, the love surpasses any negative trait that the person may have.

The second stanza once again shows the connection between the lovers.

All fragrance irrefragably, and claim

Wheaton 15

Madly meeting logically in this hour

And region that is ours to wreathe again,

Portending eyes and lips and making told

The chancel port and portion of our June— (Crane 608)

Their scents draw them to each other where they may come together. Their eyes and lips

suggest another meeting where their souls may connect once again. The final line states that their

connection is so strong that they have been in each other’s “chancel port” which is the most

sacred part of a sanctuary, while the port refers to the wider metaphor of the sea, June also bring

to mind the warmth of summer which is prevalent in their love for each other.

The next four stanzas show the wider expanse of love. Rather that keep it between the

unmanned lovers, Hart Crane uses floral imagery to show the fertility of love. This also means

that love has a life cycle and new love can be created from love’s death. The consanguinity of

love is also harkened back to “Mutual blood, transpiring as foreknown”. Love is not just a

physical connection but a greater connection to each other’s souls. The final lines “ In this

expectant, still exclaim receive/ The secret oar and petals of all love” bring back the floral

imagery of love.

The penultimate poem is the final celebration of love and also is about the separation of

the lovers. The first stanza connects [Meticulous, past midnight in clear rime,] to [Where icy and

bright dungeons lift] by bringing back the imagery of a journey but the rest of the poem

describes the separation of the lovers.

--As if too brittle or too clear to touch!

The cables of our sleep so swiftly filed,

Already hang, shred ends from remembered stars.

Wheaton 16

One frozen trackless smile… What words

Can strange this deaf moonlight? For we

Are overtaken. Now no cry, no sword

Can fasten or deflect this tidal wedge,

Slow tyranny of moonlight, moonlight loved

And changed… “There’s

Nothing like this in the world” you say,

Knowing I cannot touch your hand and look

Too, into that godless cleft of sky

Where nothing turns but dead sands flashing.

“—And never to quite understand!” No,

In all argosy of your bright hair I dreamed

Nothing so flagless as this piracy

But now

Draw in your head, alone and too tall here.

Your eyes already in the slant of drifting foam;

Your breath sealed by the ghosts I do not know

Draw in your head and sleep the long way home (Crane 611)

The second stanza describes the lovers as becoming somewhat sleepy. Both wish to speak

to one another but seem unable to do so. They are too taken by the beauty of their island

Wheaton 17

destination and the final destination of their love for each other. The lover finally breaks the

silence in the moonlight by saying how beautiful the island is, which is also saying how beautiful

the love between them is. The speaker then laments on how he cannot touch his lover’s hand and

stare into his soul all at once. In lighter terms, that he cannot appreciate all that is beautiful about

that person at once. This force is so strong that nothing moves except the sands, which shows

how strong their bond truly is. The next lines describe the separation of the lovers, using the

metaphor of sleep. The line “In all the argosy of your bright hair I dreamed/ nothing as flagless

as this piracy” brings back the metaphor of the sea by describing his hair as a fleet of ships

coming to port, but the separation is so surprising and strong that the speaker could not even

dream it.

The final stanza seems to suggest more than just the lovers falling to sleep. In the first

half it seems as if his lover is falling to sleep as his eyes are being absorbed by the drifting form,

but the line “Your breath sealed by the ghosts I do not know” could be interoperated in various

ways. It could mean that the lover has things in his past that he cannot speak of, that are so

horrible that he has not told them to the speaker. It could also mean that he has been taken by his

past and this sleep is actually death. Either way, the final line goes along with either

interpretation. The sleep home could be along with the metaphor of the sea, as if they are

returning from their journey, or that he is returning to God. At this point in” Voyages”, the wider

celebration of love can be seen. The beginning marked its creation and its growth, it had finally

climaxed in [Infinite consanguinity it bears] and now it has come to an end. Crane keeps his

positive tone in [Whose counted smile of hours and days, suppose] and in [Meticulous, past

midingt in clear rime,] he sees love as not just something to enjoy while in it, but as something

Wheaton 18

that lasts as connections between people. [Where icy and bright dungeons lift] shows the spoils

of love, even after it has ended.

By the opening of [Where icy and bright dungeons lift], the sea has returned to its

cruel nature. Swimmers have been slain, and the skies are no longer familiar, the shells no longer

sing transmemberments of song and now are monotone. The speaker looks back towards the

places he has been “My eyes pressed black against the prow” , and laments the loss of his lover.

He states that this separation is more savage than the death of kings, and he begs those with

supernatural power to give him information about his former lover. The next three stanzas

continue to celebrate love by alluding to the Greek Goddess Venus who rose from the sea. The

final stanza is the reaffirmation of love:

The imaged World, it is, that holds

Hushed willows anchored in its glow

It is the unbetrayable reply

Whose accent no farewell can know. (Crane 612)

The final two lines bring back the connections of the lovers. Their bond is so

strong that they will never hear each other say goodbye, and even though they are separated they

still have a connection. [Where icy and bright dungeons lift] states that even after love has ended,

what it leaves is a wonderful thing as well. This poem also shows a change in perspective.

Through [Infintie consangunity it bears--] and through [Meticulous, past midnight in clear rime,]

he was talking to us about the wonders of love that he had experienced. But in [Where icy and

bright dungeons lift] he seems to be talking to someone else. Much like in The Bridge he seems

to be calling out to T.S. Elliot. He had believed that the inability of people to understand their

relationships has lead to the world becoming a wasteland, which is much like the modernist

Wheaton 19

movement. Hart Crane seems to state the opposite, people are able to understand the connections

with each other so hope is not lost, which is akin to the postmodernist movement. The entire

poem set proves how Hart Crane understood the love and loss in his relationships, and even

though he struggled with finding love, he understood it fully.

Hart Crane’s struggles with homosexual relationships are shown is his poetry that

celebrates love, even though he struggled in finding it. In “Garden Abstract” he showed how

love is unfortunate when it is unreciprocated, and wrote of a sad alternative. While in “My

Grandmother’s Love Letters” he showed that he can understand other people’s love connections,

but also laughed about those that cannot understand his. In “Wine Menagerie” Hart celebrates

the transformative qualities of wine, but just like love, he understands how it may backfire.

“Voyages” is the poem series that undeniably proves Hart Crane’s understanding of love. From

innocence to the final separation, love is a powerful force that creates connections between

people. Even though love may grow and die what it leaves is just as wonderful as what is felt

when experiencing it.

Wheaton 20

Works Cited

Crane, Hart. "Garden Abstract." The Mentor Book of Major American Poets. Comp. New York: Penguin Press, 1962. Print.

Crane, Hart. "The Wine Menagerie." The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Comp. Richard Ellman and Robert O'Clair. New York: Norton, 1988. Print.

Crane, Hart. "My Grandmother's Love Letters." The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Comp. Richard Ellman and Robert O'Clair. New York: Norton, 1988. Print.

Crane, Hart. "Modern American Poetry." 21 April 1924. 30 April 2010 <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/crane/letters.htm>.

Modern American Poetry. 3 May 2010 <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/crane/bio.htm>.

Poetry Foundation. 5 May 2010 <http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/print.html?id=1491&type=author>.

Reed, Brian. Poetry Foundation. 30 April 2010 <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/print.html?id=172022>.

Sherman, Paul. "On Voyages I." Sherman, Paul. And Gradually White Buildings Anwser Day. University of Illinois Press, 1972. 139-142.

Vendler, Helen. "The Terrible Details of Hart Crane's Life -- Necessary to an Understanding of His Poetry." The New York Times 20 July 1969.