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=Harold Hart Crane by Karrie Lynn Johnson=

Harold Hart Crane was an American poet born in 1899. He wrote works such as __The Bridge__ and __White Buildings__. Crane's parents, Clarence A. and Grace Hart Crane were very unhappily married, despite the fact that they were financially comfortable. Crane had a stressful childhood, having to listen to and be involved in his parents' fights. Critics of his work believe that his childhood life at home directly resulted in his strengths and weaknesses as a poet. Most tend to agree. One's early life shapes and molds who one turns out to be later in life. Crane's life revolved around his passion to write poetry. When Crane moved to New York at the age of seventeen, "[h]e was not interested in any kind of occupation apart from writing poetry, and so he was often short of money, especially when the strained communications between his parents caused his allowance to be delayed." ("Hart Crane," page 3) When the US decided to enter World War I, Crane attempted to enlist in the armed forces, but was not allowed because he was a minor. He thought it would help him to escape his financial troubles. After the war was over, Crane simply could not keep a job. He was even given reccommendations by his father, but all Crane really wanted was to be a published poet. "One might say that Crane sought to discover in poetry what he lacked in life." ("Hart Crane," page 5) Crane wrote poetry about his family, such as "My Grandmother's Love Letters," but he also wrote poems about his sexuality, such as "Abstract Garden." The family theme is probably more common among American authors of this decade rather than the sexuality theme, due to the fact that Americans did not really start to question their sexuality until the 1960s. Hart Crane might even have been trying to send a message to America that homosexuality is not a willing perversion, but a fact of life. If this was one if his minor goals, it didn't make much of a presentation in the essays written about his life. Crane's writing is a reflection of his time. He was thought of as a "wry comedian characteristic of the euphoric postwar period, the Jazz Age, the 1920s." During this time, many authors wrote with a bit of humor in their works, be it dry or not. This was most likely due to the fact that the 1920s were a time of carefree fun and laughter for Americans. Crane's vision was that of love and perfection among the relationships between people. He hoped that his poetry was contributing to increased love between people of this era. Unfortunately, Hart Crane could not remain happy in his own life. He committed suicide at sea by jumping ship on April 27, 1932. Crane was not satisfied with his life and the way events in his life were going. "Crane was well aware of the contradiction existing in a vision that never gets beyond the mind of the visionary." ("Hart Crane," 12) Crane was trying to bare his soul to the world, but he found it difficult to get his point across. To some, poetry comes naturally; to others, like Harold Hart Crane, poetry is an aspiration that those who truly want to write well must strive for.

Annotated Bibliography:
"Hart Crane 1899-1932." __Poetry Criticism Volume 3__. Ed. Robyn V. Young. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1991. 78-113

In the reference book __Poetry Criticism Volume 3__, there is a section dedicated solely to Hart Crane, famous author and poet. It discusses his life as a young person until the time of his death at the age of 32. It has essays written by Hart Crane. This is the book I used to find my weird fact for my author trading card. It was helpful because it listed Crane's most famous poetry and the years they were each published. It has many excerpts from essays written about Crane, and a few excerpts from Crane himself. This book is also the host of the picture I chose to do draw on the front of my author trading card.

"Hart Crane." //DISCovering Authors//. Online Detroit: Gale, 2003. //Student Resource Center - Gold//. Gale. Fuquay Varina High School/WCPS/. 20 May. 2008 http://www.galenet.com/servlet/srcx

This database article on Hart Crane describes things involving his parents, before he was born, to when Crane was four years old, to when Crane was in high school, and more. This is a wonderful article to read in order to find out more about Cranes life and why he wrote the things he did. I will use this article to help me describe Hart Crane's vision for my essay.

Pritchard, William H. "An American voice.(Books)(Book review)." //Commonweal.// 134. 7 (April 6, 2007): 24(3). //Student Resource Center - Gold//. Gale. Fuquay Varina High School/WCPS/. 26 May. 2008 http://www.galenet.com/servlet/srcx

The database article __An American voice.(Books)(Book review)__ by William H. Pritchard discusses Crane's works specifically. I will use the information in this article to better understand Hart Crane to write my essay. This article shows what critics had to say about Crane's writting. Alan Tate and Yvor Winters were two people that reviewed many, if not all, of Crane's works and wrote essays on each one.

Williams, William Carlos. "Hart Crane [1899 - 1932]." __Hart Crane A Collection of Critical Essays__. Ed. Alan Trachtenberg. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1982. 32-34.

The book Hart Crane A Collection of Critical Essays edited by Alan Trachtenberg is a collection of essays on the life and famous works of Hart Crane. I used this book to find factual information on Crane in order to make my author trading card. This particular essay about Crane was only 3 pages long, but it was filled with quotes from Crane's works and explinations of them. I used one of the quotes from this book on my author trading card. The essay discusses two of Crane's well-known works, __White Buildings__ and __The Bridge__.