Scene One Flashcards
‘The Broken Tower’ - Hart Crane
“And so it was I entered the broken world
To trace the visionary company of love, it’s voice
An instant in the wine [I know not whither hurled]
But not for long to hold each desperate choice.”
- Personification: “company of love, its voice”
- “An instant in the wind”: suggests love is fleeting and constantly changing
- pre modifiers connote something broken/somber; possibly the relationships
- Crane was an American poet who tried to create epic poems to expose contemporary society
“Elysian Fields”
- allusion to Greek mythology: the resting place of the heroic and virtuous. Also a real street
- suggest you can only get there by death: foreshadowing?
“A tiny piano being played with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers”
- music is an indulgence
- reference to soul music
“It is first dark of an evening in early May”
Spring - associated to be a season of change. Foreshadowing?
“Easy intermingling of races in the old part of town”
- ironic, “old” is associated with traditional beliefs
- suggests unity and diversity, people can co exist peacefully
“Roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes”
- costume indicates Stanley’s role; likely working class
- ‘rough’ foreshadows his personality?
- masculine imagery
- pre modifier ‘roughly’ suggests he is rugged and not worried about his appearance
“Hey, there! Stella, Baby!”
- “baby” is a term of endearment
- could suggest she is childish and naive
“I’m looking for my sister, Stella DuBois. I mean - Mrs Stanley Kowalski.”
Blanche
- a dig at their relationship
- Corrects herself due to shameful remark
“The surrounding areas dim out as the interior is lighted”
Balance is physically walking into light - extended metaphor of moth
“Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light.”
Suggests that Blanche is so delicate she can’t be exposed
“Her shoulders slightly hunched and her legs pressed closed together and her hands tightly clutching her purse as if she were quite cold.”
- Blanche feels vulnerable, protecting her material goods
- unease and unsettled
“She is shaking all over and panting for breath as she tries to laugh. The bottle nearly slips from her grasp.”
- Blanche goes manic when searching for alcohol
- being deceptive, pretending she’s not had any drinks
“You messy child, you, you’ve spilt something on that pretty white lace collar!”
- infantilisation of Stella
- Blanche projects her insecurities onto Stella: she can’t face them herself
“I stayed at Belle Reve and tried to hold it together!”
- ‘Belle Reve’ means ‘beautiful dream’
- represents loss of previous way of life
- blames Stella for choosing the lower class over her family
“And now you sit there telling me with your eyes that I let the place go!”
- distancing herself from the blame
- assumes Stella is thinking the worst of her: highlights low self esteem and anxiety
- lost the ‘beautiful dream’ she had to become stereotypical Southern Belle
