Crane-Poetry

Crane-
In my effort to understand poetry more I have really dug down and read Crane’s poetry over and over. I still don’t get it. His poetry is very morbid and dark. It is always talking about things that are disturbing and not nice. I guess that is the point to his poetry though, to be mean. There is a sense of detachment (as the introduction said).
My favorite poem of his was poem about the war. The contrast between the maiden and then the actual war was really neat. On the one side you have comfort and allusion. We all know what happens in war, yet the good side is trying to be brought to light anyways. The mask that is being pulled over war itself is apparent in the pother verses of the poem when the reality of war is really seen. The actual word usage is quite interesting. I love how the words bring about a different connotation for the different pictures being painted. It is almost making fun of the maiden for crying. It’s like a fake comfort for the maiden while the author laughs in the background as he really describes war.
The other poem I liked was “Supposing That I Should Have The Courage”. This poem was equally disturbing to me because of the fact that the speaker of the poem lashes out against hope. Even as hope is being offered it still isn’t taken and the speaker decides death is better then hope. There is this sword representing virtue and then his sinful blood, which is to be spilt. It’s as if he is saying no hope will save him from what he’s done to make his blood sinful.
These poems are all difficult to take because of the negative connotation behind each. There is a mocking in most that is irritating. I like that though, that Crane has inspired emotion in me when I read his poems. Usually I just read to get it over with and do whatever needs to be done with the assignment. This kept me somewhat interested and inspired feeling.