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Article: The poet explains himself in prose: Hart Crane's letters illuminate the writer of irrational verse.(Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- July 30, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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There's no more eloquent definition of the poet than Rainer Maria Rilke's in his ``Sonnets to Orpheus'': ``He is one of the staying messengers,//who still holds far into the doors of the dead//bowls with fruits worthy of praise.''
Few poets have fulfilled that role better than Hart Crane, a modern Orpheus.
``And so it was I entered the broken world//to trace the visionary company of love,'' Crane wrote. Those words echo Rilke's and have the resonance of a mantra. They capture the notion of poets as visionaries, heralds who've returned from the metaphysical world to the ``broken world'' with treasures of form, meaning and beauty.
Crane, ...