by hefnerbe | Mar 30, 2011 | 1. Southern Cross, V. Three Songs
“The one Sestos, the other Abydos hight.” -Marlowe Epigraph: quote from “Hero and Leander” by Christopher Marlowe, a sixteenth century poet and dramatist. The Byzantine legend tells of Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite, and Leander, the man who...
by hefnerbe | Mar 30, 2011 | 2. National Winter Garden, V. Three Songs
The National Winter Garden, a famous New York City burlesque, was one of the many burlesque’s run by the four Minsky brothers. National Winter Garden was located “at Houston Street and Second Avenue [a] teeming Jewish district” (Time). “Burlesque tapered...
by hefnerbe | Mar 30, 2011 | 5. Virginia, V. Three Songs
In his book These Days of Large Things: the Culture of Size in America, 1865-1930, Michael Tavel Clarke suggests this section is intentionally modeled after the song “What Do You Do Sunday, Mary?” from the popular 1923 musical Poppy. Line 3: “Keep...
by hefnerbe | Mar 30, 2011 | VI. Quaker Hill
Quaker Hill: is an upstate New York resort town, near Patterson, three miles east of Pawling Village. Crane had lived there sometime, due to the hassle of the city. Quaker Hill became a resort on the 13th of July 1881. Line 3: “Antarctic skies”- Reference to the...
by hefnerbe | Mar 30, 2011 | VI. Quaker Hill
Line 26: “Borders of three states”- “the narrator looks out over the three American states (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut) visible from the top of the derelict Mizzentop Hotel; but these three states also come to connote the three dimensional material...
