The Bridge: A Poem

Rating:
Summary: not easy poetry, but worth the struggle
Review: I'd suggest reading Samuel R. Delany's essay (in Longer Views) and accidentally catching a program on PBS about Hart Crane after your first read of it. It helped me tremendously.

An epic poem which explores America, "modern" poetic imagery (the Brooklyn bridge as opposed to a tree), Columbus, Whitman, Poe, Pocahontas, and sea imagery. It also contains very bold (for the pre-Stonewall era) allusions to homosexuality, in the typical method of the period which is rooted in gender-neutrality.