Line 198: “Panis Angelicus”: The strophe of Sacris solemniis that begins with the words “Panis angelicus” (bread of angels) has often been set to music separately from the rest of the hymn.
Line 199: “diametric”: Relating to or of the nature of a diameter; diametral. (OED)
Line 202: “mendicants”: A member of any of the Christian religious orders whose members originally lived solely on alms; a mendicant friar. (OED)
Line 204: “Meistersinger”: A member of any of the German guilds for lyric poets and musicians which flourished in the 14th to 16th centuries, known for their elaborate technique. (OED) Also, “[Walt Whitman] is apostrophized as Loaf of the Angels (Panis Angelicus), ‘Our Meistersinger, and as the original conciever of Crane’s central symbol, the Bridge” (Combs 148).
Line 207: “bridge”: The Brooklyn Bridge
Line 208: “Years of the Modern!”: According to Robert Combs, “The lines about death…refer, I believe, to the famous line from section six of ‘Song of Myself,’…And the first line of that stanza, from Whitman’s ‘Years of the Modern!’” (Combs148) “Song of Myself”
208: “Propulsions”: The action of driving something out or onward (OED)
Line 209: “Panis Angelicus”: (see line 198)
Line 210: “Barrier”: The capitalization of the word may in the poem may indicate that it is a reference to Walt Whitman’s poem “Passage to India”.
Line 211: “leastwise”: As one word = ‘at least’ (OED)
Line 211: “death-strife”: This is possibly a reference to Walt Whitman’s poem “OLD AGE’S SHIP & CRAFTY DEATH’S” which was published in Leaves of Grass.
Line 212: “sesames”: A widely cultivated East Indian plant, Sesamum indicum (N.O. Pedaliaceæ). Also, the seeds of this plant, from which an oil is expressed. (OED)
Line 215: “greensward”: Turf on which grass is growing (OED)
Line 216: “abysmal”: In weakened sense: of an exceptionally poor standard or quality; extremely bad (OED)
Line 216: “cupolas”: Archit. A rounded vault or dome forming the roof of any building or part of a building, or supported upon columns over a tomb, etc.; esp. applied to the pointed or bulbous domes of Saracenic architecture. (OED)
- “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” by Richard Rummell; Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Line 218: “seraphic”: Of attributes: Resembling what pertains to the seraphim; worthy of a seraph; ecstatically adoring (OED)
Line 219: “clarion”: A shrill-sounding trumpet with a narrow tube, formerly much used as a signal in war.
Line 221: “ ‘The Open Road’ ”: An allusion to Walt Whitman’s “Song of the Open Road”.
Line 227: “aureole”: The radiant circle of light depicted around the head. (OED)
Line 228: “Panis Angelicus”: (see line 197)
Line 229-235: “Thus the poem ends…with ‘Crane dedicating himself and his poem to Whitman’s kind of transcendentalism, a mysticism ‘inclusive’ of science and the machine, yet also both fundamentally and ultimately intuitive’” (Hazo 104).