Quote from American Modernist Poet, Hart Crane, found during research for the B&B of an Arts in Letters installment. In a letter to friend and photographer Alfred Stieglitz he gives another glimpse of what he experiences as a writer –
“I have to combat every day those really sincere people, but limited, who deny the superior logic of metaphor in favor of their perfect sums, divisions and subtractions. They cannot go a foot unless to merely catch up with some predetermined and set boundaries, nor can they realize that they do nothing but walk ably over an old track bedecked with all kinds of signposts and “championship records.”
I love learning about what people think and feel about their work, expecially through their letters. Historical letters are the ultimate primary sources, first-person accounts of creators’ experiences and thoughts. The quotes that I include in each Arts in Letters Bio and Background are extra added bits of insight.
This quote demonstrates Crane’s love of metaphor, and what it can do when it is used well. Writers so often wrestle with words that it’s easy to think of them as adversaries and the quest to find the right ones incites a pitched battle. The vivid image Crane creates of being ‘drenched’ and ‘soaked’ in words so they’re there when he needs them creates a very different picture, less of a battle, more of a mission to prepare and be ready when the moment arrives.
