To Brooklyn Bridge Summary & Analysis
by Hart Crane

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"To Brooklyn Bridge" is the opening poem in Hart Crane's The Bridge (1930), a book-length poetic sequence about American history and modern life. A "Proem" or preface to the longer work, it introduces the subject that ties the sequence together: New York City's Brooklyn Bridge. In ecstatic and worshipful language, Crane presents the bridge as a transcendent work of art, a quintessential symbol of modern America, and a gathering place for everyone from lovers to troubled outcasts. Ultimately, Crane imagines the bridge, and the vision of "freedom" it represents, unifying all of America—from the "prairies[]" to the "sea."

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