Christian Tears; Pagan Smiles: Hart Crane’s “Lachrymae Christi”
When American poet Hart Crane declares in a letter, “I felt the two worlds. And at once,” he speaks bluntly of the governing tension of his poetry: the knocking of Harold Hart Crane’s finite language against the hard, transparent ceiling beyond which he senses the divine. Crane’s first collection, W...
| Published in: | Religion and the arts |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2014
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| In: |
Religion and the arts
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| Further subjects: | B
Hart Crane
American poetry
Christ in poetry
mysticism and poetry
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | When American poet Hart Crane declares in a letter, “I felt the two worlds. And at once,” he speaks bluntly of the governing tension of his poetry: the knocking of Harold Hart Crane’s finite language against the hard, transparent ceiling beyond which he senses the divine. Crane’s first collection, White Buildings, often shows signs of visionary frustration. But in “Lachrymae Christi,” the most difficult poem in White Buildings, Crane’s vision dilates to immense possibilities of union between the material and the spirit worlds, between what is time-bound and what is timeless. This poem, both its poetic effect and its spiritual purpose, can be most sympathetically read as mystical. Because the tonal movement toward rapture in “Lachrymae Christi” resonates against the poetry and theology of Renaissance mystics such as St. John of the Cross, we can situate the poem in the context of ancient patterns of western mysticism in order to reclaim what has long been seen as an opaque and elusive poem. “Lachrymae Christi” rewards this reading of its mystical poetics with line after line of quivering wordplay, startlingly fresh religious allusion, and subtle thematic polyphony as it interweaves Christian and pagan traditions of regeneration. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5292 |
| Contains: | In: Religion and the arts
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685292-01803003 |