by hefnerbe | Mar 30, 2011 | VII. The Tunnel
“To Find the Western path Right thro’ the Gates of Wrath”- William Blake (Quotation on title page): Poems from the Rossetti Manuscript Line 2: “Up Times Square” – Line 2: “to Columbus Circle” – Line 8:...
by hefnerbe | Mar 30, 2011 | VII. The Tunnel
Lines 39-40: “Let’s have a pencil Jimmy — living now at Floral Park” – Crane’s usage of dialogue here is supposed to mirror fragmented conversation that he either over hears on the subway, or takes part in. But, he does not make the...
by hefnerbe | Mar 30, 2011 | VII. The Tunnel
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...
by hefnerbe | Feb 11, 2011 | VII. The Tunnel
Line 91: “galvothermic” – A word Crane made up, most likely the combination of galvanic (appearing later in the poem, on line 124) and thermal. The definition of galvanic being “electricity developed by chemical action” and...
by hefnerbe | Feb 11, 2011 | VII. The Tunnel
Line 127: “oily tympanum of waters” – This most likely refers to the harbor where ships sit leaving oil behind. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, tympanum is a “drum or similar instrument” or it could also be the “drum of...
by hefnerbe | Jan 31, 2011 | Featured, VII. The Tunnel
Go to The Tunnel “To descend, now, into the subway is to go down to the heart of that ubiquitous death, to experience the contemporary world fully and unevasively as a kind of frozen hell.” – R.W.B Lewis
