'At Melville's Tomb' by Hart Crane

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Often beneath the wave, wide from this ledge
The dice of drowned men's bones he saw bequeath
An embassy.Their numbers as he watched,
Beat on the dusty shore and were obscured.And wrecks passed without sound of bells,
The calyx of death's bounty giving back
A scattered chapter, livid hieroglyph,
The portent wound in corridors of shells.Then in the circuit calm of one vast coil,
Its lashings charmed and malice reconciled,
Frosted eyes there were that lifted altars;
And silent answers crept across the stars.Compass, quadrant and sextant contrive
No farther tides . . . High in the azure steeps
Monody shall not wake the mariner.
This fabulous shadow only the sea keeps.

Editor 1 Interpretation

At Melville's Tomb by Hart Crane: A Literary Criticism and Interpretation

Every now and then, we come across a piece of literature that we cannot help but be in awe of. Such a piece is Hart Crane's At Melville's Tomb, a poem that explores the life and works of the great American author, Herman Melville. The poem is an ode to Melville, but it is also much more than that. It is a reflection on the role of the artist in society, the power of language, and the nature of human existence. In this literary criticism and interpretation, we will delve deeper into the meaning and significance of this masterpiece of American poetry.

Background and Context

Before we begin our analysis of the poem, it is important to understand the context in which it was written. At Melville's Tomb was first published in 1926, two years after Hart Crane had moved to New York City. Crane was born in Ohio in 1899 and had a troubled childhood, marked by his parents' divorce and his father's suicide. He dropped out of high school and eventually made his way to New York, where he worked odd jobs and began writing poetry. Crane was part of a group of American poets known as the "Objectivists," who rejected the traditional forms of poetry and sought to create a new kind of poetry that reflected the modern world.

Herman Melville was a nineteenth-century American author best known for his novel Moby-Dick, which tells the story of Captain Ahab's obsessive quest for revenge against a giant white whale. Melville's work was not widely appreciated in his own time, and he struggled financially and emotionally in the years following the publication of Moby-Dick. It was only in the twentieth century that Melville's work began to be recognized as a masterpiece of American literature.

Analysis

At Melville's Tomb is a long poem, divided into six sections, each of which explores a different aspect of Melville's life and work. The poem opens with a description of the cemetery where Melville is buried:

Often beneath the wave, wide from this ledge
The dice of drowned men’s bones he saw bequeath
An embassy. Their numbers as he watched,
Beat on the dusty shore and were obscured.

Here, Crane sets the tone for the rest of the poem, using vivid and evocative language to describe the scene. The "wave" is a metaphor for the passage of time, and the "drowned men's bones" represent the forgotten writers of the past. Melville, however, is not among the forgotten; he is a beacon of light in the darkness, a writer whose work has endured.

In the second section of the poem, Crane describes Melville's life and work in more detail. He writes:

Here, Sailor, is some paradise for you!
Let horrors tempt no more: unseen
In that fair foliage of the apple tree
Nor devil’s triumph, nor yet martyr’s scream,
Though Adam cast forth from an orient
Paradise, can mourn
Amid new foliage of the apple tree.

Here, Crane contrasts the beauty of Melville's writing with the darkness and horror that he often wrote about. He suggests that Melville's work is a kind of paradise for the reader, a place where one can explore the depths of the human experience without being consumed by it.

In the third section of the poem, Crane turns his attention to the power of language. He writes:

And from the sea’s blue edge
A voice calls, ‘The vainest foam
That frets the sea
Begs at the beach a snare of sand,
Cellar and monument.
And the frail surf
Dances its laughter to the shore,
Grief mocked, the metronome
Of all desire.’

Here, Crane suggests that language is a kind of "metronome" that drives human desire. The sea, with its endless waves, represents the vastness of human experience, and the voice that calls out from it represents the power of language to shape that experience. Crane seems to be suggesting that Melville's writing, with its rich language and powerful imagery, has the power to shape our understanding of the world.

The fourth section of the poem is perhaps the most famous. It begins with the lines:

To the stone-cutter,
To the shaper of surfaces,
So perished a voice
Immutable.

Here, Crane addresses the idea of the artist as a kind of sculptor, shaping the world around them with their words. He suggests that Melville's voice was "immutable," that is, unchanging, even in the face of death. The lines that follow are some of the most powerful in the poem:

An occasion for the artist being dead
Is celebrated by the machinist,
By the dentist, and by the
Patent attorney.

Here, Crane suggests that the world has little regard for the artist or their work. The "machinist," "dentist," and "patent attorney" represent the practical, utilitarian aspects of society that often overshadow the importance of art.

In the fifth section of the poem, Crane returns to the idea of Melville's writing as a kind of paradise. He writes:

O harp and altar,
Of the fury fused
(How could mere toil align thy choiring strings!)
Terrific threshold of the prophet’s pledge,
Prayer of pariah, and the lover’s cry,
Again the traffic lights that skim thy swift
Unfractioned idiom, immaculate sigh of stars,
Beading thy path—condense eternity:
And we have seen night lifted in thine arms.

Here, Crane uses language to create a kind of music, a "choiring" of strings that suggests the power and beauty of Melville's work. The "traffic lights" that "skim" the idiom of Melville's writing represent the distractions of modern life, which threaten to obscure the beauty of art. Crane seems to be suggesting that it is only by embracing the power of art that we can find a way to transcend the limitations of time and space.

The final section of the poem is a kind of epilogue, in which Crane reflects on the nature of human existence. He writes:

Speak of the world,
And of salt and searchingly
And of the orange-tip butterfly
Dangling its wings and
Furred with the pollen of Jacob’s ladder
And of the waning of spiral galaxies,
And of the parallax of shrubs
In the hot savannas
Mingled with the sound of crickets
And of yourself,
A seasonless world-hopper,
Dust that is blown in the wind,
Seed that is scattered
In the dust and the wind,
A tree that is fallen
And bears no fruit.

Here, Crane suggests that the human experience is a kind of journey, a search for meaning and purpose in a world that is often chaotic and confusing. The image of the tree that is fallen and bears no fruit represents the futility of human existence, the sense that our lives are ultimately insignificant in the grand scheme of things. However, Crane seems to be suggesting that it is only by embracing the power of art that we can find a way to transcend this sense of futility and connect with something larger than ourselves.

Conclusion

In conclusion, At Melville's Tomb is a masterpiece of American poetry, a meditation on the power of language, the role of the artist in society, and the nature of human existence. Crane uses vivid and evocative language to create a kind of music that explores the depths of the human experience. He suggests that the artist has the power to shape our understanding of the world, to create a kind of paradise that transcends the limitations of time and space. Ultimately, Crane seems to be suggesting that it is only by embracing the power of art that we can find a way to connect with something larger than ourselves, to transcend the limitations of our own mortality and find meaning and purpose in the world.

Editor 2 Analysis and Explanation

Poetry At Melville's Tomb: A Masterpiece of Modernist Poetry

Hart Crane's "Poetry At Melville's Tomb" is a masterpiece of modernist poetry that explores the themes of death, memory, and artistic legacy. Written in 1926, the poem is a tribute to the American novelist Herman Melville, who died in obscurity and was later rediscovered as a literary genius. Crane's poem is a meditation on the power of poetry to transcend time and space, to connect the living and the dead, and to create a sense of continuity between past and present.

The poem opens with a vivid description of the scene at Melville's tomb, located in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. Crane's language is rich and evocative, using imagery and metaphor to create a sense of mystery and awe. He describes the "sable-vested, eremite-eyed" mourners who gather at the tomb, as well as the "sable-vested, eremite-eyed" trees that surround it. The use of the word "eremite" (meaning a hermit or recluse) suggests a sense of isolation and loneliness, as if the mourners and the trees are cut off from the rest of the world.

Crane then turns his attention to the tomb itself, describing it as a "monumental mockery" that seems to mock the very idea of death. He notes the "irony of the great dead" and the "irony of the living" who come to pay their respects. This sense of irony and paradox is a hallmark of modernist poetry, which often seeks to challenge conventional wisdom and question the assumptions of the past.

As the poem progresses, Crane shifts his focus to the power of poetry to transcend death and create a sense of continuity between past and present. He notes that Melville's "words like mummied flags still wave" and that his "epic chant" still echoes through the ages. This idea of poetry as a kind of time machine, capable of bridging the gap between past and present, is a central theme of the poem.

Crane also explores the idea of memory and how it shapes our understanding of the past. He notes that Melville's tomb is "haunted by the same owl's voice" that he heard as a child, suggesting that memory is a kind of ghost that haunts us throughout our lives. He also notes that the mourners at the tomb are "haunted by the same demon" that haunted Melville, suggesting that the past is never truly dead but always present in some form.

The poem reaches its climax with the lines "And so, admitted through black swollen gates / That must arrest all distance otherwise, / Ideas, like these, shall be the firmament / Within the mind of him who hears them sing." These lines suggest that poetry has the power to transcend physical barriers and connect us with the past, creating a kind of "firmament" or sky within our minds. The use of the word "admitted" suggests that this connection is not automatic but must be earned through effort and attention.

Overall, "Poetry At Melville's Tomb" is a powerful meditation on the power of poetry to transcend time and space, to connect us with the past, and to create a sense of continuity between past and present. Crane's language is rich and evocative, using imagery and metaphor to create a sense of mystery and awe. The poem is a testament to the enduring power of art to shape our understanding of the world and to connect us with the deepest truths of the human experience.

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