University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1948 Study of Hart Crane's symbolism in "White Buildings" and "The Bridge" Virginia Elizabeth Perkins The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Perkins, Virginia Elizabeth, "Study of Hart Crane's symbolism in "White Buildings" and "The Bridge"" (1948). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 3714. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/3714 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NOTE TO USERS Page(s) not included in the original manuscript are unavailable from the author or university. The manuscript was microfilmed as received 85-88 This reproduction is the best copy available. u m T A 8TUDÏ Of V BAar OBANa'S SYKBOIISW In m ir a BOHDiNoa a*a Tsa BRiPoa by Vlr&lmla Perkias UA*., Moiifciaaa Stat® ^ÊÎT® rslty, là 44 PreeemteG îa partial fulf 111mmt of tha raqulrearaat for the degree of Master of Arts Montana S tate tln iv ersity 1948 Approve## ■i Q- J. airman of Board of lataminers (j o . ^ Dean, Graduate S cho^ UMI Number: EP35749 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT DtaMMon Rubfehing UMI EP35749 Published by ProQuest LLC (2012). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 TABiÆ Of comrmi^ I# mar ORAKs AjfD s'msoLisTs. # . i II* snmoLis* im wm po^: m %Kir& BmiPPZGS# , # . lo %i%* THB WAaaiAOis or FASaros ;j@D mijw. $ * # em IT# PRm# BUlLDima 70 BSIW$. * , # , , 61 T. smmona* %i$ 2^ s%im& ......................... a* 71, GOBCtUSlO* 4 * . * , . , $ . , , , . * JUK) SIBLIGOSAIET, . , , . * , . * , . , . , . , 196 CHAPTSB I IKTRODDCrPlON; EABT 0R6NE AND Tim SW 0UST3 It Is to© oft«a asBwasâ either that Bert Orme*s poems sen he watâerstoea or felt by the average r##ar with­ out muoh outside explamtlom, or that they are so oompletely steeped in mystlelsm* so deeply personal, or so ladklmg In syntaetleal oomeotlom and logie, that they are oompletely esoterlo. Neither assumption is wholly eorreet# Although Crane recognized early in his oareer that his poems would find a limited audienoe, the steadily increasing aiaber of his readers indicates that his poem# must contain a certain degree of universality* The average reader can, throu# careful and repeated reading and application* find much that is rewarding in Crane's poetry* However* in order to reach fuller uMerstending and enjoyment of Crane's poems, it would be very helpful for the average reader to know some of the theories which Crane held concerning poetry, and some of the influences under which he came in the course of his writing, and which were responsible to a certain extent fw making his poems what they are* » Certainly not the least of the influences under which Crane fell at the time when he was groping about for what he thought should be his own manner of poetic expression was that of the French Symbolist movement, Whose chief exponents were 2 Rimbamé# milaame, and laForgue# Briefly, the Symbolists "had ohosen the ommmieatlon of eomplex emotional states by means of indireet detie#» in eluding »y#ols, eompr#s##d meta* phors, and »#tle ausle uhleh suggested rather than stated or deeeidbed**'^ The inflaeao e of th is movement upon Gran# * a poetry %ae probably greater than that of any o^er single poet or group of poets,& It is the purpose of this study, first, to attempt an analysis of some of Oran#*a poetry through a dissuasion of the symbols ehioh he use# in Ihlte Buildinrs. and ear ta in of the ideas whlcà they represent; and second, to shoe the way to a fuller understanding of the symbolism of The Bridne in light of the symbolism in the earlier poems* It is understood, of eourse, that any suah analysis cannot be completely conclu* sive, since, with any poetry which mnploys other than the most obvious symbols, there remains always a margin of doubtful* ness. Readers of different temperament and background may 1. Brm ««ber. Hart Orapei à BlBCTaphlaal Crl tlpal âîaâx . p* 38» 2# fo r 1 biographies of Grans, the reader is urged to see Philip Horton, Bart Grans: The life of an merican Boet. 352 pp., or Weber, gn, e lt* . 4SI pp. G oodshort accounts of Grane's life may be found in George I, Anderson and Ida lou Waltoa, .aitop»! ai» Offijjpslaai 1 of grltï|h p i morloan IJttwatige from 1*14 tt tba graaent. iTth Hlatorlaal and O rities 1 Bessy*, pp* 595*9% and f# G* Mstthiessem, "Graae, ^ ro ll iarir* MolTonary of imerjcan Biography, XU, 206 * 8. ■ 3 a«ver absolutely agree ob final interpretations, but there #111 be, after ©areful reading, a broader area of agreement them may eeem probable a t f i r s t sight* I t is hoped th at tTum suggeetlw of some of the ideas ehieh appear to predominate in Crane*® poetry, other readers will be eneouraged to go fur» ther and deeper in the eo#mom effort of understanding Orme*e poems# In beginning audh a study, It is neoeseary, first of all, to rerle# in aomeehat more detail the principles of sym» boliem* A symbol, In Its general sense, is a particular ob­ je c t whieh has become Imbued # lth a sp ec ia l meaning, so th a t it comes to represent something larger than itself—an abstract Idea, a religion, a philosophy. The cross, for instance, has become th e symbol of C h ristia n ity , and a word is a language* symbol for the object. Idea or emotion Which it represmts* In the narrower sense o f the french Symbolist movement, at the end of the nineteenth cmtury, and the writers who ca rried on th a t movement, symbolism came to mean, in i^ etry , the translation of sense impressions into sound and rhythm In writing# The object of the symbolists was not to sketch In details of an idea, m object, or emotion, but merely to sug­ gest it, by the use of certain key words or symbols—to inti­ mate rather than to declare* As Mallarmé^ one of the chief proponents of the Symbolist movement, expressed It* To name an object is to do away with the three-quarters 4 of the emjoymmt of tbs poem #loh is dsrivsd from #ie setlafaotlon of gosssiag little by little; to suggest it, to evoke it—that is #bet ok arms the imagiaatioa#* Oae of the aiffioultle® attendant upon the reading of C rane's poems, or those of any other m ilte r who makes use of symbols, is that those symbols are ohoeen by the poet, "arbi* trarily,* Idmund Wilson says, *’to stand for speoial ideas of his own—they are a sort of disguise for those ideas»"* Eow» ever, "arbitrarily" is a rather strong term# As shall be seen in examining some of Crane's speeifie symbols, there seems to be an assumption among th e symbolists tbs t th ere are oertain ooaoepts ehieh sink deep into the eonselousness of man, although ostensibly, espeeially when detached from their usual eontexts, they may seem to have little speoial signifieamee# It is through their almost mystical belief that these symbols are potent enough to be somehow meaningful for everyone that the symbolists {including Grane) hope to insure communication* The doctrine of Symbolism shich Wilson finally formulates Is this* Every feeling or senseti on we have, every moment of con­ sciousness, is different from every other; and it is, in consequence, impossible to render our sensations as we actually experience them through the conventional and 8, quoted by Edmund Wilson, ^el»s Gas^e: A Study in the Imaginative Literature of l@?u-lW#'. p# "W*" 4. Wilson, Lee, ei%# amiv#?mal Immgmge of ©rdimry literature# &aeb poet hee h is unique p ereo aellty ; eeeh of his memeats has I ts speoial tome. Its speoial oomhlast lorn of elemmts* Amd It is the poet’s task to find, to Inrmt, the speoial laaiEUage #leh w ill elome be oapable of eapresslmg hi# pereomallty emd feellmgs. @ueh a language must make use of ssmbols; what Is so speoial, so f leeting and so vague eanmot be eoaveyed by direst stataaest or desorlptlom# but only by e euoeeeelom of words, of Images, whloh m il serve to suggest It to the reader# The Symbolists the#* ahlyes, full of the Idea of produeIng with poetry effeets lik e those of musle, tended to think of these Images as possessing an abstract value like musical notes and chords# But the words of our speech are not musical no­ tation, and what the symbols of aymbollm really were, were metaphors detaCbed from their subjects—for one can­ not, beyond a certain point, la poetry, merely enjoy color and sound for their own sake; one has to guess what the Images a re being applied to .