Hart Crane (1899-1932)

A selective list of online literary criticism for Hart Crane, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars and articles published in peer-reviewed sources


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introduction & literary criticism

Hammer, Langdon. "Lecture 13 - Hart Crane." In the first of two lectures on Hart Crane, "The early poetry of Hart Crane is presented and analyzed. Crane's self-characterization as a visionary, Romantic, and erotic poet, as well as the unique nature of his poetic project are considered as responses to Eliot's Waste Land and in particular the section 'Death by Water.' The poems 'Legend,' 'Voyages,' and 'At Melville's Tomb' are read with particular attention to Crane's idiosyncratic use of language and neologism" [2 lectures]. Audio, video, and transcript from Professor Hammer's class at Yale, ENGL 310: Modern Poetry, Spring, 2007.

Biography of Hart Crane from Modern American Poetry Site (U of Illinois). Also critical commentary for the following poems: Black Tambourine, Chaplinesque, Episode of Hands, Porphyro in Akron, Voyages I, Proem: to Brooklyn Bridge, Ave Maria, The River, Cape Hatteras, Atlantis, The Mango Tree

"Hart Crane." An extended introduction to Hart Crane, includes list of his works and samples of his poems, from the Poetry Foundation

A brief introduction to Hart Crane from The Academy of American Poets

Bedient, Calvin. "Grand Failure." On Hart Crane's career and the new Library of American edition of his poems, edited by Langdon Hammer, Hart Crane: Complete Poems and Selected Letters, Boston Review, March/April 2007

Dyson, David A. "Philosophy and Literary Criticism." Establishing a link between philosophy and literary criticism, using Hart Crane's poetry as an example. Poetry Nation 6 (1976)

A web site on teaching Hart Crane from the Annenberg/PBS project "American Passages."

Manuscripts in the Hart Crane collections at Kent State U library

Smith, Ernest J. An introduction to Hart Crane from the Literary Encyclopedia, 21 March 2003 [subscription service]

Vendler, Helen. "The Terrible Details of Hart Crane's Life -- Necessary to an Understanding of His Poetry." A review of Voyager: A Life of Hart Crane, by John Unterecker. NYTimes, 7/20/69 [registration required]

A 1930 review of "The Bridge." "Hart Crane's Cubistic Poetry." Reviewed by Percy Hutchinson, NYTimes, 4/27/30


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