The Biblical Allusions and Echoes in Hart Cranes The Broken Tower - Research Paper Example

? The biblical allusions and echoes in Hart Crane's "the broken tower" Biblical allusions and echoes are use to make indirect reference to the Bible. This requires that the writer is well familiar with the entire Bible or a portion of it. These allusions and echoes are used to pass out the hidden meaning of the words in the Bible. Some of the commonly used allusions in the Bible are “The Grapes of Wrath” used by John Steinbeck and “He slayed his Goliath” used to refer to the story of Goliath and David in the Bible. Crane’s poetry manifested a lot of treats of death and rebirth of love (Hazo, 1963). The modern perfection of death showed a lot of impossibilities in motion while having some resurrection of some kind though giving a very pessimistic message (Quinn, 1963). In his poem, A Broken Tower, Hart Crane uses a lot of biblical allusions and echoes to describe the creative process and the difficulties that come with it forcing the artists to be bound by it. There are several metaphors used in the poem. In the poem, crane used a lot of metaphors and references to referring to God and the church bells directly. This makes it possible to give a religious interpretation to the poem. It is also argued that both arts and religion have metaphors that are similar making the works of the poet both a way of spiritual expression while at the same time making it possible to search for the truth (Hazo, 1963). The tittle, “A Broken Tower” has been used continuously to allude to the fact that there is a continuous deconstruction of the existing paradigms making it critical for artistic progress. Crane in the poem talks of destroying a stone tower in a continuous manner while building a new one within himself. There is also the change of tone from negative to positive making the poem a stylistically simple with abab rhyming pattern of ten quatrains (Quinn, 1963). At the beginning of the poem, crane uses the bell which is one of the predominant metaphors. The bell has a lot of religious importance as it is use to refer to the morning call that is normally made for people to go for morning prayers (Hazo, 1963). In this poem however, Crane’s bell is not used to call people for morning prayers but used to gather God. There is also a strange fact in stanza one as the tone is negative despite being used to regard to dawn and God which have traditionally been positive. The angelus bells in stanza one is imagery used to treat the resurrection of Crane from hell as the images suggest in the poem. This is show by the falling stone tower with some stony and hellish (Quinn, 1963). The death that Crane is dealing with was caused by modernity that has caused a lot of pessimist by ostensibly that is nearly inescapable. These towers would be guessed as the one of the modern world. The bells of resurrection are used to open the breaking bonds of the first four stanzas making it possible to bring back the poet to the broken world. As the poem proceeds, the bells become a metaphor of poetry which makes the poet sing. The same is true for the coming of the word of God and the divine revelation that bring love. The same revelation of love is brought in according to the poet. External towers of love forms one of Crane’s poetic projects which broken and inner ones are building (Hazo, 1963). The poet has his ‘feet chill on steps from hell’ and ‘dropped down the knell of spent day’. This portrays a lot of curious negativity showing how crane has rejected the traditional region that is established. Going ‘from pit to crucifix’ as always been positive and used to symbolize the movement towards God. The first stanza is however decidedly negative manifesting a disdain of tradition (Hazo, 1963). Some of the Biblical allusions like the angelus bell commemorated the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the alternating melodies that overlapped played on the bells while the papal documents eluded the divinely inspired messages. The bell-towers and campaniles represented the Italian cathedrals (Quinn, 1963). The same bells attempted to transfigure life while incarnating God. Crane finds his own poetic mission an analogue with divine revelation hoping that his own words cognates. As indicated in his poetry that had been built within him, a tower is not stone this is because stone cannot hold the heavens in its vastness. The visible winds are also silent giving the feeling of vertigo. This is widely discussed in the beginning of the poem in a widely profound, quite and private manner. The images in the poem for then resonance of poem that appeared in the beginning of the poem and continued to the end of the poem as they are also echoed at the end of the poem. This forms the actual resurrection that is mentioned at the end of the poem its final line. The sky opened up and love was let out. Real love was however seen after the rebirth of the poet. What actually happened in the in Crane’s optimism? Is it glorious rebirth? Modernity that seem like death, the waste of today’s land or the fact that this deathlike end herald more in today’s end. These were all captured in the poem (Quinn, 1963). This poem is treated as one of the strongest works of Crane before his death. In the poem, a ray of hope is used to end the poem with overwhelming last grasp of despair manifested in the poem. Many readers highly comment on the literacy reference that the poet uses as it. In stanza one for instance, “I dropped down the knell of a spent day” has been used to remind the great works of Thomas grays Elegy as was written in the country Churchyard (Hazo, 1963) . In the third stanza, “my long-scattered score of broken intervals” sounds like the had been lifted from the great works of T. S. Eliots in “The love Song of A.J. Prufrock” among many other illustrations’. Despite the use of all these imageries, the poet is dedicated to absolute vision that is platonic and which is higher to be climbed by him in is poetry work. He was able to realize this difficulty in a unique clairvoyance at the time of his life’s sunset days. This was the time when he was running down in a neurotic debauchery. His poetic vision did however start declining with the emergence of T. S. Eliots. The other form of imagery that was used in the poem is seen in stanza five where the poet says “homeless Eve, unwedded and stumbling gardenless and grieve which has a windswept guitars on the lonely decks forever. This refers to the highly Eve which is exceptional and most unwedded. This is an outcast out cast of Crane’s own condition which is docile and has a lot of unloved seeds (Quinn, 1963). The woman in Crane’s life as indicated in The Broken Tower has been used to differentiate the womanless life that Eliot had referred to Crane in his life from the swaying shadows of the second stanza. This is clearly illustrated by use of bee and honey imagery that is mentioned in stanza two and that has been clearly illustrated by use of a perfect song. This in effect gives a qualification of implicit mortality. This represents the quality of crane’s vision that would have been generated by influence of the healed, original, pure and now original vision. The same lady that is being referred to din the poem looks at the poet in a guise of a virgin (Hazo, 1963). The interaction of heaven and earth as clearly indicated by the poet shows who he feels in the wholeness of integrity that comes with the new feeling of having a lady of his sweet mortality and the song according to Apollo which creates a complete oneness by allowing each one of them to play their roles and take their right parts in the life of the poet (Quinn, 1963). The allusion created by the imagery of angelus bells that signifies the need to submit in prayer of prophecy. This form the key of the last two stanzas that is full of humanities and quite. The poem did however have some shortcomings with the poem being criticized for lack of verbal clarity which is the ultimate indication of great poetry. The poem did also have some free sort of pentameter as it is characterized by the stanzaic form which is similar to that in Country Churchyard by Elegy Written which is full of impute clarity to passages that are difficult (Hazo, 1963). In summary, the poem has a lot of memorable words in that form some of the most memorable lines. This is due to the highly and proper use of imagery to allude to various things. “The bell-rope that gathers God at Dawn” is one of the most commonly membered line as it illustrates how the bells break down their tower. The bell further swings in a movement that is defined. This enters the broken world. This is used to refer to the lady who means that the sweet mortality stirs latent power. The verbal signification of the poem is brought to mind by the mixture of deviant speech and straightforwardness which gives one the feeling of the seriousness of jabberwocky which hovers on the great meaning of the poem. In order to experience the real and actual feeling of the functionality of work metaphor, there is needed to repeatedly read the read the poem. There however no doubt that a poem is a masterpiece of craft as illustrated by the underlying messages that every line in the poem carries. A line for instance “My veins recall and add, revived and sure” carries a very subtle meaning despite the fact that it may seem as weak in the first outlook. The use of “re” for instance forms a rhythmically good tone for the poem. A line like “whose sweet mortality stirs latent power” for instance has great meaning as it prominently modifies the theme of the poem giving it the Elizabethan sonnet. Line thirty two “what I hold healed” for instance carries a lot of Biblical symbolism as it as would be widely be known in the French poetry and the greater visionary company of love as widely contextualized in The Broken World. Reference Hazo, S. J. Hart Crane: An introduction and interpretation. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, (1963). Quinn, V. Hart Crane. New York: Twayne, (1963). Read More