Lines 66-71: “Whose head is swinging from the swollen strap…” – A reference to Edgar Allan Poe. R.W.B Lewis argues that Poe serves as poetic redemption, much like Whitman does in “Cape Hatteras.” A redemption from the hell that Crane has found himself in.
Lines 72-82: Also reference to Edgar Allan Poe
W.S. Hartshorn, "A Photograph of Edgar Allan Poe," Library of Congress (1848). Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Line 74: “Below the toothpaste and the dandruff ads” – Referring to actual advertisements seen on the subway (http://www.flickr.com/photos/47814033@N07/4503000002/in/photostream/).
Line 78: “O evermore!” – Reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.”
Line 80: “Baltimore” – The place where Edgar Allan Poe died (http://www.eapoe.org/balt/poebalt.htm).
Line 81: “ballot rounds” – Referring to ballots used to vote for political candidates. R. W. B. Lewis explains how “Baltimore hoodlums…(according to historical report) tried to make Poe cast a number of illegal ballots for their ‘ticket’ of political candidates” (Lewis 361).
Line 82: “deny the ticket” – This refers back to the ballot rounds from the previous line. It is unknown whether “Poe succeeded in hanging on to some fundamental integrity…to deny the false destructive values the world would force upon him” by refusing to cast the illegal ballots (Lewis 361).
Line 83: “Gravesend Manor” – A subway stop in Brooklyn. “Grave” is also a reference back to Poe and death.
Line 83: “Chambers Street” – A subway stop, located at the intersection of Chambers Street and West Broadway in Lower Manhattan.
"Transportation - Subway Construction," (1928). Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery.