Hart Crane and the Modernist Epic

This study examines Hart Crane''s canonical ambitions in The Bridge and argues for a new species of epic, ''the modernist epic,'' which also includes Pound''s The Cantos, Eliot''s The Waste Land, and Williams''s Paterson. It offers a close reading of The Bridge as a hybrid of lyric and epic modes. Crane''s sublime and history converge in a complex synthesis of form and ideas. The study reconceives...