University of Virginia Library

The Construction of Hart Crane's Last Poem, "The Broken Tower"
by
Joan St. C. Crane

The most reliable external evidence of a date when Hart Crane first conceived the structure of his last major work, "The Broken Tower," comes from a much-quoted statement made in September 1932, a few months after Crane's death, by Lesley Byrd Simpson.[1] According to Simpson, who knew Crane while both were in Mexico on Guggenheim Fellowships, inspiration for the poem's dominant symbols occurred on 27 January 1932 in Taxco.

This contemporary account describes Crane's chance meeting before day-break with the Indian bell-ringer from the Church of Santa Prisca in Taxco. He accompanied the old man to the church tower and helped him ring the bells as dawn broke over the mountains. Simpson saw Crane later in the morning of the 27th (a Wednesday) and witnessed his intense response to the experience: ". . . he seized my arm and bore me off to the plaza, where we sat in the shadow of the church, Hart the while pouring out a magnificent cascade of words."

Less credible is Peggy Baird Cowley Conklin's version,[2] which conflicts with Simpson's in that she places herself at the center of Crane's inspiration and sets the time of the poem's conception a month earlier at Christmas 1931 when her liaison with Crane began. Written thirty years after the episode and exhibiting, as it does, a highly subjective and selective hindsight, Peggy Cowley's recollection is questionable in accuracy. Although it is perfectly plausible that Crane may have begun to attempt by poetic means an interpretation of his affair with Peggy Cowley before the bell-tower incident and it is true that "The Broken Tower" owes existence largely to their erotic relationship (some lines composed earlier may have been incorporated into the poem), the dawn bell-ringing experience has been verified by a postcard of the Santa Prisca bell tower sent by Crane to Ethel Clark, an employee of the family candy store and restaurant in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, on 27 January 1932. Crane's message on the verso: "Have just been up, at dawn, and rung the bells,—or helped to—in the towers of this old church here. And set off rockets, too. Love, Harold".[3] The progression of work on the poem indicates that Crane found here the emblem needed to move "The Broken Tower" towards expression.

After several false starts and lengthy revision, the poem was completed on 25 March and Crane immediately sent a copy to Morton Dauwen Zabel, an editor at Poetry magazine. He re-typed the poem and sent fair copies with personal notes appended to each to Samuel Loveman, an old Cleveland friend, and Malcolm Cowley (the estranged husband of Peggy Baird Cowley) on Easter Sunday, 27 March. He had sent early drafts of work in progress to Peggy Cowley and another friend, Solomon Grunberg, during February.

Hart Crane's death by drowning off the passenger ship, Orizaba, bound from Vera Cruz to New York, occurred on 27 April 1932. This neat coincidence of dates is the only tidy aspect attending the conception, creation, and completion of "The Broken Tower" against a chaotic background of Crane's last three months of life.

Seven typescript drafts, worksheets and fair copies (ribbon and carbon) of the poem are known to exist, although there were (and, possibly, still are)

others extant. Six of these are listed as C43-48 in Kenneth Lohf's The Literary Manuscripts of Hart Crane (1967).[4] The seventh—either Crane's own ribbon fair copy or the copy sent to Poetry magazine[5] —came to light in a Swann Galleries, Inc., auction sale (Cat. 1055, item 71; 10 March 1977) in a consignment from the books and papers of Samuel Loveman. The date, "March 25th. 1932", of this typescript is superscribed with Crane's holograph signature. Typed at left is: "Hart Crane, / 15 Micheocan, / Mixoac, / Mexico D.F." This is the penultimate manuscript version of the text on which Crane made several holograph corrections that were incorporated two days later in the fair copy (with carbon) he typed for Loveman and Malcolm Cowley. This copy, which later passed into the hands of Loveman, is now in the private collection of Maurice F. Neville, Santa Barbara, California. It is chronologically the fifth in the sequence of known variant texts.

The earliest typed worksheet, undated, consisting of trial versions of stanzas 1-3 and 5, is in the Butler Library of Columbia University (Lohf C43). It has a typed note at the foot: "(More to follow—this is the new be-/beginning) / [holograph:] Hart". This typescript was sent to Solomon Grunberg with a letter of 8 February in which Crane says, ". . . I've got to work on the first impressive poem I've started on in the last two years. I feel the old confidence again; and you may know what that means to one of my stripe!" (Weber 387). Text:

A second version of these four stanzas, slightly revised, was sent to Peggy Cowley, dated 9 February 1932, with the note beneath: "— To be continued, by / your [holograph:] Hart". This ribbon typescript is in the University of Virginia collection (Lohf C44). Text:

In a letter to Peggy Cowley dated 10 February 1932, Crane writes, "The version of the beginning of 'The Broken Tower' that I sent you early this morning is probably to be changed a good deal yet" (Weber 388). Later in February, to Peggy Cowley: "I worked late on my poem last night despite all the disturbance. . . . I hope to send you more of the poem in a few days" (Weber 392). To his stepmother, Bessie M. Crane, he wrote on 8 March, "Yes, Bess, I'm really getting to work on one of the strongest pieces of poetry I've ever written."[6]

On 20 March, Crane wrote again to Grunberg: "The poem ('Broken Tower') has undergone considerable change and extension since the version I sent you. I'm so glad that you liked it. I'm not sending any more of it to you, however, until it's quite finished" (Weber 395).

The third variant typescript text in the chronology (2 pp., ribbon, University of Virginia [Lohf C45]) is the most complex of the extant working drafts. It contains all ten stanzas, but is heavily revised with Crane's holograph corrections and emendations and his name signed twice in the left margin of the first page. Additional versions of stanzas 8 and 9 are typed on p. 2 and a holograph draft of stanza 10 with extensive re-working. On the verso of p. 1 is typed: "15 Michoacan, / Mixcoac, D F / Mexico / March 14th, 1932" (this date does not have a demonstrable relationship to the working text of the recto, but was probably within a few days of the worksheet and can stand as an approximate indicator of the date on which Crane drafted this version). Beneath, in Crane's hand, is the line: "That rings the ['answer'

del.] sweet-decorum that the flesh evokes". On the verso of p. 2 are lines in Crane's hand [at top]: "Virginia / from 'The Bridge' / O rain at seven, / Paycheck at eleven— / Keep smiling the boss away, / Mary (what are ['you' word smudged] going to do?)"]. Beneath are two experimental lines for stanza 4 of "The Broken Tower": "Oval encyclicals in chorus leaping / The canyons high wide ['voices' del.] arteried". At the foot, two experimental lines for stanza 9: "----but drop a stone / Into a pool - and hear the silence ['widen' del.] / In rings of emerald, azure, widen til they [illegible word: ring(?)]".

The fourth typescript variant text (3 pp., ribbon, University of Virginia [Lohf C46]) is a later working draft based on variant three. It contains eight stanzas on p. 1, stanzas 9 and 10 on p. 2 with a second version of stanza 10 typed beneath, and two more versions of 9 and 10 on p. 3. Each page has corrections in Crane's hand.

The ribbon typescript sent to Poetry magazine (or retained by Crane), described above, is the fifth variant, dated 25 March 1932.

The fair copies (ribbon and carbon; both with one ink correction by Crane in line 23) sent by Crane to Malcolm Cowley (2 pp., carbon, Yale University [Lohf C47]) and Samuel Loveman (2 pp., ribbon, Columbia University [Lohf C48]) comprise the completed text as it was first printed in The New Republic 71, 914 (8 June 1932).[7] With Cowley's copy, he wrote: "I'm wondering whether or not you'll like the above poem—about the 1st I've written in two years. . . . I implore your honest appraisal of this verse, prose or nonsense—whatever it may seem. Please let me know."[8] Appended to Loveman's copy is a note which reads in part: ". . . here's a poem—about the first in 2 years—tell me if you like it or not. . . ."[9] Both copies have "Easter '32" typed in the body of the letter text, although the envelope of the Loveman copy (also at Columbia University) is postmarked 29 March 1932. This fair copy was apparently typed by Crane on 27 March, but could not have been mailed on Easter Sunday; hence, the discrepancies in the dating of this typescript.

Since the texts of both are identical, they are here designated together as the sixth variant typescript text before publication.

"The Broken Tower" is a 40-line poem in ten 4-line stanzas, first published posthumously in The New Republic on 8 June 1932, five weeks after Crane's death. It was first collected in The Collected Poems of Hart Crane (New York: Liveright, Inc., 1933)[10] and has been reprinted in most collections of Crane's poetry published since.

The collation of manuscript and printed texts below includes:

• 1 C43 (NNC)
• 2 C44 (ViU)
• 3 C45 (ViU):
• 3a 1st versions of stanzas 8 and 9 (9 includes first two lines only and is the author's holograph)
• 3b 2nd version of stanza 9
• 3c 2nd version of stanza 8 and 3rd of 9
• 3d 1st version of stanza 10 (all holograph)
• 4 C46 (ViU):
• 4a 1st versions of stanzas 9 and 10
• 4b 2nd versions of stanzas 9 and 10
• 4c 3rd version of stanza 10
• 5 Maurice F. Neville coll.
• 6 C47 (CtY); C48 (NNC)
• 7 The New Republic 71, 914 (8 June 1932)
• 8 The Collected Poems of HC (NY 1933)

For convenience, certain shorthand symbols familiar in textual notation are employed in this collation. A wavy dash (˜) represents the same word that appears before the bracket and is used exclusively in recording punctuation or other accidental variants. An inferior caret (&c.rat;) indicates the absence of a punctuation mark when a difference in the punctuation constitutes the variant being recorded, or is a part of the variant. A vertical stroke (|) represents a line ending.

The collation includes Crane's revisions in his typescripts. In order to

ease the difficulty of reading quoted revised material of some length and complexity, the following convention is adopted. The quoted text will ordinarily be the final version in the typescripts, whereas the processes of revision are described within square brackets. To specify what words in the text are being affected by the description within square brackets, an asterisk is placed before the first word to which the description in brackets applies; thus it is to be taken that all following words before the square brackets are a part of the described material. In formulaic transcriptions double asterisks can also be used to set off subsidiary alterations occurring between the single asterisk and the bracketed description that applies to this single asterisk. Inferior brackets clarify subsidiary bracketed descriptions within or before the main bracketed entry with or without the use of asterisks according to circumstances.[11]

All ellipsis periods are the compiler's except for those that clearly correspond to ellipses that appear in a poetic line. Line references are to the 1933 text numbered 8. Unless otherwise indicated, all alterations in the typescript are in the author's hand.[12]

• 1 bell-rope] ˜&c.rat; cord 1,2
• 2 me&c.rat; . . . dropped] me—as though I fell 1; me,—as though I dropt 2
• 3 Of a spent day—] Of the new day . . . 1,2; *an ['old' del.] passed [insrtd. for del. 'the new'] day 3; Of a *spent [insrtd. for del. 'passed'] day, 4
• 3 to wander] I could wander 1; I wander 2
• 4 From pit to crucifix,] Clear to the ˜, 1; Straight to the ˜ — 2; From pit to ˜ — 3-5
• 4 feet . . . steps] and back again 1; right to and fro 2
• 5 Have . . . corps] Haven't you seen—or ever heard those stark 1; Have you not seen, nor ever heard those stark 2
• 6 Of . . . tower, . . . sway] Black shadows in the tower, that drive 1; Black shadows in the tower, that whirl 2; Of . . . town, . . . sway 7
• 7 Antiphonal . . . before] The clarion turn of God?—to fall and then embark 1; The clarion turn of God? Falling, didst never remark 2
• 8 The . . . sun's ray?] On echoes of an ancient, universal hive? 1; How echoes, like banners, spread as they unfurl? 2; The . . . suns ray['s' del.] 5
• 9 The bells . . . tower;] The bells have broken their *tower! [exclm. mk. added] 1,2; The *bells, I say [', I say' ab. del. 'then'] the bells [comma del.] break down their tower, 3
• 10 And swing . . . engrave] And sing, . . . engrave 1; They beat, . . . engrave 2
• 11 Membrane . . . score] My terror mid the unharnessed skies they shower; 1,2
• 12 Of . . . slave!] I am their scattered—and their sexton slave. 1;2 (scattered&c.rat;); Of . . . I&c.rat; . . . ˜! 3
• 13 Oval . . . heaping] omit 1,2; Oval *encyclicals [ab. del. 'encyclicles [ab. del. typed 'ootenticles']']—in *ravines [ab. undel. 'canyons'] heaping 3
• 14 The impasse . . . slain!] omit 1,2; ['The' del.] Impasses ['I' ov. 'i'; final 's' added] with choir; *Banked **voices [ab. del. 'calls,'] ['and' del.] slain [ab. del. typed 'arteried'] and slain! 3

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• 15 Pagodas, . . . outleaping—] omit 1,2; Pagodas ['s' ov. comma in error] campaniles ['s' ov. comma]—['temples' del.] with reveilles outleaping— 3
• 16 O terraced . . . plain! . . .] omit 1,2; Oh [insrtd. for del. 'High [insrtd. for del. 'With [insrtd. for del. typed 'Their']']'] terraced echoes prostrate on the plain! 3; Oh terraced . . . ˜ !&c.rat; 4; O terraced . . . ˜ !&c.rat; 5
• 17 And so . . . world&c.rat;] And so it was, . . . ˜ — 1; And so . . . ˜ — 2; And so it *was, [comma added] 5
• 18 To trace] To hold 1,2; *To trace [insrtd. for del. 'The sense'] 3
• 19 An instant . . . wind] And instant in a hurricane 1; An *instant [final 't' ov. 'ce'] in the wind 5
• 20 But not . . . choice.&c.rat;] But never—no, to make a final choice! . . . 1; But never—no, to *know [insrtd. for del. 'make'] a final choice!&c.rat; 2; But *not for long [insrtd. for del. 'never, no,']—to *hold one desperate [insrtd. for del. 'win a final'] ˜&c.rat; . . . 3; But not . . . each [insrtd. for del. 'one'] . . . ˜&c.rat; . . . 4; But not . . . ˜ . . . 5
• 21-40 My . . . shower.] omit 1,2
• 22 Of that] Of that ['great' typed del.] 4
• 23 Whose . . . Word] Whose thigh *embronzes ['z' insrtd.] earth [insrtd. for del. 'heaven'], strikes [del. 'his' ab. del. 'the'] Word ['W' ov. 'w'; ab. undel. 'sword'] 3; Whose . . . embronzes ['z' insrtd.] earth, *strikes [final 's' ov. 'd'] Word 4; Whose . . . embronzes ['z' insrtd.] . . . Word 6
• 24 In wounds . . . hope—cleft] In [insrtd. for del. 'Of'] wounds ['I' del.] pledged to hope,—*cleft ['c' insrtd.] 3; In wounds . . . ˜,—˜ 4,6; In wounds . . . ˜,—['or is it she' typed del.] cleft? 5
• 25 left] kept [insrtd. for del. 'keep'] 3; left [typed insrtd. for typed del. 'kept'] 4
• 26 blood] one [insrtd. for del. 'blood'] 3
• 27 true?)] insrtd. for del. 'warm?)' 3
• 28 stirs . . . power?—] stirs [insrtd. for del. 'attends my'] . . . ˜ ?—[dash insrtd.] 3
• 29 And through . . . strokes]—˜ ˜ . . . the [insrtd. for del. 'my [ab. del. typed 'the']'] strokes 3; And through *whose [insrtd. for del. 'whowe'] . . . strokes 5
• 30 sure&c.rat;] ˜—3a,3c
• 31 The angelus . . . evokes:] The [insrtd. for del. 'Whose'] angelus of ['all the' del.] wars, [comma insrtd.] across her heart evoke['s' del.] 3a; The angelus of ['all' del.] wars across *my [insrtd. for del. 'her'] heart ˜&c.rat; 3c; The angelus of wars ['across' del.] my *chest [insrtd. for del. 'heart'] ˜: [colon insrtd.] 4
• 32 What I . . . pure . . .] What *I [insrtd.] hold *healed now,—[comma ov. period; dash insrtd.] original and pure . . . . . . . 3a; What I . . . ['now,' del.] original *now [insrtd.] and pure&c.rat; 3c; What I . . . sure—4; What I . . . ˜—5
• 33 And builds . . . stone&c.rat;] And Builds ['up' del.] a Tower within that is not stone [comma del.] 3a; And builds a tower that is not *iron or [insrtd.] stone . . . 3b; And builds a tower within . . . ˜ . 3c; And *builds [orig. del. and 'shrines' written ab., then restored by 'stet'] a tower within . . . ˜ . . . . 4a; And builds a tower within . . . ˜ . . . 4b; ˜ * ˜, within, [commas insrtd.] . . . ˜ ['. . . .' del.] 5
• 34 (Not . . . slip] (Not stone can jacket heaven!) but the flesh drop 3a; &c.rat;˜ . . . heaven; but the *slip [insrtd. for del. 'drop'] 3b;3c; *(˜ . . . heaven.) [parens insrtd.] . . . but the slip 4a; (˜ . . . heaven) but the slip 4b; *(˜ . . . heaven) [parens insrtd.; closing paren ov. comma]—[ov. 4 dots] . . . slip 5
• 35 Of pebbles— . . . sown] Of stone—the *visible wings [insrtd. for del. 'unheard rings'] of silence, ['widening' typed del.] drown [insrtd. for del. 'thrown'] 3b; ˜ ˜, . . . thrown 3c; ˜ ˜, . . . ['thrown' typed del.] sown 4a; ˜ ˜,— . . . sown 4b; ˜ * ˜,—[dash ov. poss. 2 dots] . . . sown 5
• 36 In . . . dip] *In emerald, azure circles [insrtd. for del. 'In rings of emerald, azure,'] . . . til they ['ring' del.] 3b; In *water [insrtd. for del. 'emerald'],—]dash insrtd.] . . . till they *clip [added] | ['Lift down the lake's eye' del.] 3c; In

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  *azure [insrtd. for del. 'emerald'] circles,—[dash insrtd.] . . . *as [insrtd. for del. 'till'] they clip 4a; In . . . clip 4b
• 37 matrix] ab. del. 'center' 3d
• 38 That shrines . . . tower . . .] *The sky ['to' del.] breaks ['in' del.] [ab. del. '*Of God [undel. insrtd.] Of heaven into'] that lake, that swells [ab. del. 'is'] a Tower | ['That ripples in that lake' del.] | That scrolls in quiet waters, swells a Tower 3d; That *shrines [insrtd. for del. 'scrolls'] . . . lake, *and [insrtd.] . . . ˜—4a;4b; That *rings [insrtd. for del. 'seals'] . . . lake, . . . ˜—4c; That shrines . . . ˜ . . . [dots insrtd. for del. dash] 5
• 39 The commodious, . . . sky] The commodius, . . . the sky 3d; The commodious&c.rat; tall decorum of the sky 4c
• 40 Unseals her . . . shower.] That rings *all earth [ab. del. 'each others'] and lifts *love [insrtd. for del. 'it [ab. del. 'all']'] in it's ˜ . . . . 3d; That rings all earth and lifts *love [insrtd. for del. 'it'] . . . ˜ . 4a; That *unseals ['un' insrtd.] her [insrtd. for del. 'all'] earth, [comma insrtd.] . . . ˜. 4b; That seals all earth . . . ˜. 4c

Notes