U n i v e r s id a d e F ed eral de Santa Catarina
Departam ento
de Eíngua e lite r a tu r a Estrangeiras
•TRINITY HI THE CONTEXT OF NORTH AMERICAN ROKANTICISK
D is se r ta ç ã o
subm etida à Universiáiâe Federal de Santa
C a t a r in a p ara obtenção
l á r iá
jakdyra
cui ;h a
F lo r ia n d n o lis
.
do Grau de 1,'estre em Letras
n __ :
Agosto - 1980
Esta
dissertaçao
foi
julgada
MESTRE
opçao
Inglês
final
pelo
EM
e Literatura
Programa
de
adequada
para
a
obtenção
do
grau
de
LETRAS
Correspondente
PÓs-graduaçao
em
e aprovada
Letras
da
em
sua
forma
Universidade
"Hilário J L . B o h n
C o o r d e n a d o r d e P Ó s - g r a d u a ç a o em
Ingles e L i t e r a t u r a Co r r e s p o n d e n t e
»
Apresentada
^
a
Banca
Examinadora
composta
pelos
Paul' J e n k i n s ,
professores:
Ph.D.
MOSTLY FOR LUIZ CLAUDIO AND GABRIELA
This study is also d ed ic a te d to HARRY SMITH,
who made it possible^.
and to HUGH FOX,
who made it n ecessary .
S p e cial thanks to
P r o fe s s o r Nora. Ther Thielen,. from U ..F ,R ,.G ..S .,
f o r h er p r o fe s s io n a l support d u r in g the past
ten years;Mr. H aro ld Mercer M i d k i f f , P u lb r ig h t Deputy
Execu tive S ecre ta ry in B r a s i l i a ,
f o r h is p a tie n t c o rrec tio n o f t h is work-
ABSTRACT
This d i s s e r t a t i o n is a study o f the book-poem T r in it y
by Harry Sm ith,
in w hich I point out the auth o r*s am bivalence
towards i n d u s t r i a l
s o c ie t y .
Sm ith w elds to g e th e r v ario u s parts o f a l i t e r a r y past
in w hich Transeeridentalist id eas p la y a m ajor r o l e .
This a n a l y s is o f T r in i t y aims to show the in flu e n c e o f
T r a n s c e n d e n ta lis t
id ea s on Sm ith and the e v o lu tio n o f these
id e a s towards the Neo-Transcendentalism o f the 20th Century.
S m i t h 's
g lo rific a tio n of
"n a tu r a l man" is i n c r e a s in g ly
r e p la c e d by h i s acceptance o f F austia n man.
fa c t o r ie s and i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n
S m it h 's b ia s agains
is moderated by a compromise
w it h p r o g r e s s .
The ms.terial examined in t h is d i s s e r t a t i o n in c lu d es
two o th e r ,b o o k s b e s id e s T r i n i t y : Me,
E a r ly
Poem s.
of. the m agazine
The Pep-ole
and
S e v e r a l iss u e s o f the newspaper NewsART
The Sm ith
were also
exam ined.
The
and
V I 11
RE S UMG''
E s t a d isse rtaçã o
Harry Smith:,
é um estuda- do livror-poemæ T r i n i t y
no qual tentamos m ostrar a am bivalência do a uto r
fr e n t e à so c ied a d e
in d u str ia l*
Sm ith fund? v á r ia s p artes de um passado l i t e r á r i o
qual. as i d é ia s
no
t r a n s c e n d e n t a lis t a s desempenham um p ap el importante..
E sta análise
i d é ia s
de
T r i n i t y o b je t i v a m ostrar a i n f l u ê n c i a das
t r a n s c e n d e n t a l is t a s em Smith: e a- evolução; destas id é ia s
para o Neo—Trancendentalism o
A g l o r if ic a ç ã o
do
do) século^ X X .
"homem natural."' é gradativamente, subs­
titu íd a ' por sua aceitação- do homem: F a u s tiano* 0 p reconceito
Sm ith c o n tra f á b r ic a s
e in d u s t r ia liz a ç ã o
de-
é moderador por um com*-
promisscr com: o progresso .
O
m a te r ia l examinado' n e sta dissertação' i n c l u i d o is o
tros l i v r o s além de T r i n i t y ; Me«The P e o p le « and The E a r l y Poems »
D iverso s,’números do jo m a l
bénr foranr exam inados.
NewsART e da revista- The Smith: tarn -
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter On e:
I N T R O D U C T I O N ........................................ .................................. 1
1 .1
Statem ent o f Protrleirr........................................................ 1
1 .2
Review o f C r it ic is m
1 .3
Statem ent o f Purpose
........... ............................................... 4
........................................................ 8
C h a p te r Two:'
THE PARAMETERS OF NORTH AMERICAN ROMANTICISM. . .1 0
Chapter Threer
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SM IT H 'S THOUGHT ....... ................2 4
3 .1
3..2
3 .3
Chapter F o u r :
The E a r l y Poems . . .......................... ............ ..
"The A n t i - C i v i l i z a t i o n L ea g u e"
24
................................. 30
S m it h 1s-Work-under-the Pseudonym Raphael T a l l i a ferro ........................ .............................................................. 35
A CLOSE READING OF TRINITY
..................................... 40
41-1
Textual E x p lic a t io n s
4 ..1 .1
F ir s t Movement:
4 .1 .2
Second Movement: "The Growth o f The W orld Trade
Center"
.................................................................................60
.............................. ..
"O rd e r fo r B u r i a l "
........... ..
42
.4 3
"Day o f The B u r i a l "- ......................76
4 .1 .3
T h ird Movement:
4 .2
O v e r a ll Themes and "Tdea._Biocks" ............... ............ 94
CONCLUSION
B IB L 10 GRAPHY
.................. .................................................................. ............ . . 1 0 3
............................................................................................... . . 1 0 5
CHAPTER' ONE
INTRODUCTION
1 .1 .
Statem ent o f Prcrblenr
T h is study w i l l fo cu s on the text o f Harry S m it h 's T r i n i ­
ty i n an attempt to e x p l a i n i t .
T r i n i t y , p u b lis h e d i n 1 9 7 5 ,
book.
is Smith* s
F o llo w in g the p u b l i c a t io n o f t h is
most
important
epic poem, Sm ith w a s
awarded P E N 'S 1 9 7 6 M edwick Award f o r h is p o e t r y ,h is commitment to'
human v a lu e s and h i s achievem ents as an e d it o r » Harry Smithi h a s.
been an i n f l u e n t i a l f ig u r e ' in the sm all pres»; "underground?" since?
1964- Also known as The Sm ith,
he is the „editor o f the magazine of
the same name and the paper News ART.. He is^ also a member of CCB®P*
Gbmiaitee o f Small' M a g a z in e s ,
E d ito rs and-Publishers-
B e s id e s T r i n i t y Sm ith wrote se v e r a l o th er volumes' o f poetry
such as R a in s c e n t ,
a small volume o f e a rly poetry p u b lis h e d
1 9 6 2 ? Sonnets to P . H . A
i n
. a volume p u b lish e d in 1 9 7 9 and w ritten to
Phoebe Lou Adams o f the A t l a n t ic Monthly as responses to Rejections
C irc a - 1 9 6 6 /6 8 ?
The E a rly Poems,
a t h in volume c o n ta in in g
o f the poems p r e v io u s ly p u b lis h e d under pseudonyms,
Woman,
19 7 8 ?
some
Summer
a volume o f poems m ostly d e d ica ted to S m it h 's w if e ,M a r i o n ,
and p u b lis h e d in 19 7 8 ? Two F r i e n d s ? and Me.
The P e o p le,
h is
recent book c o n t a in in g v a r ie d poems spanning f i f t e e n years
most
(1962-
1 9 7 7 ).r a n g in g fron the "r i d d l e s o f The Sm ith" to pure lyrics^ as well
as lo n g n a r r a t iv e works about the m ajor issu e s o f our age..
S m it h 's works have also appeared in many p u b l ic a t io n s , i n ­
c lu d in g B i t t e r r o t .
Ghost D an ce,
D is c o u r s e .
Dust.
East V il l a g e 0 their.
For
Now,
The L i t e r a r y Review . K a n sa s Q u artely. P enuabra. Poet
Sm all P ress Review ,
T r a c e . U n iv e r s it y Review, HT Review,, "Wonaword
Review and The U nspeakable V is io n s o f The In d i v i d u a l . Sm ith h a s
also ap p eared w id e l y u nd er p se u d o n y m s ,e s p e c ia lly
T a lliafe rro
and Adam Dunne.,
The S m ith ,
born Harry Joseph Sm ith,. J r . on O c to b e r 15^ 1 9 3 6
i n the S ta te o f New York,
H is f a t h e r ,
Haphael
grew up in a house loaded w ith
a Jack Eondon s o c i a l i s t ,
books-
u sed to read to h is son froan
the books he himself was r e a d in g f o r p le a s u r e .
At the age o f e ig h t ,
Smith: read H ;G .W e l l s 's An O u t lin e o f
H is t o r y and a fte r w a rd s he began to> v o r a c io u s ly read sb new tock each
day. When he was tw e lv e ,
he read E aw rence"s la d y G h a t t e r l y *s-loveg-
a lo n g w it h a l l the books about astronomy, and p a le o n to lo g y 'h e
tjould?
manage to get..
Sm ith escaped r e l i g i o n u n t i l the age o f eleven, when
m other f i n a l l y d e c id e d he sh o uld have r e l ig io u s
Ms
in stru c tio n ^w M 6h
he r e c e iv e d from the E p is c o p a l Church-Ibday he is an agnostievHe may
have some r e l i g i o u s f e e l i n g s and a t t it u d e s but he does not have an
i n t e l l e c t u a l scheme o f r e l i g i o n .
In h ig h school Smith e d it e d the newspaper a n d ,b e c a u s e
h is e d i t o r i a l o p p o s it io n to S e n a to r Joseph McCarthy,
the
of
school
p r i n c ip a l r e fu s e d to recommend him to college- Even so he en tered
Brown U n iv e r s it y
just before, h i s seventeenth b ir th d a y ,
enrolling in
it s rigo ro u s program f o r a degree in chemistry- He had to v*ork veay
hard f o r m ediocre results in-mafearatics'ard ■science and, s o r he decided
fo llo w h is E n g l is h t e a c h e r 's a d vic e and become a writer-
A ft e r
s t a r t i n g w ith love poems to impress g ir l s and satires- to amtsa hims e lf, and h is friends-, Sm ith in c r e a s in g ly enjoyed the w r i t i n g
i n>.
it s e lfHe was e x p e lle d in h is t h ir d y ea r at the u n i v e r s i t y
"fa ilu re
f o r
to ab id e by u n i v e r s i t y re g u la tio n s "- Has c h i e f offense was
h is d r a f t i n g a D e c la r a t io n o f Independence,
by most o th e r members o f h is dorm itory.
which was also
s ig n e d
The d e c la r a t io n p ro tested
a g a in s t the la c k o f student power in shaping u n i v e r s it y l i f e ..
The summer f o llo w in g h is ex p u ls io n Sm ith l e f t home ard be­
came a vagabond.
In September*
1956,
he returned? to Providence f>r-
se v e r a l weeks and l i v e d o f f
campus w ith f r ie n d s w r i t i n g f o r
student n ew spap er u n d e r the name "S a s o o n ".
H is p resen ce1 on
campus was d is c o v e r e d "by the A d m in is tra tio n because h is
demning conform ity,
the
t h &
essays,corv-
h y p o c r is y and decadence^ in i&nerican l i f e beeass
h ig h l y c o n t r o v e r s ia l ,
p o s i n g fu r t h e r d i f f i c u l t i e s ' f o r h is
,future
re- adm ission..
When h i s a d m is s io n f i n a l l y occurred
S m it h 's p o etry
and
romance w ith M ario n C a m illa P etschek d i s t r a c t e d him, from h is stidLss.
However,» he r e c e iv e d h ig h e s t
distinctions, i n h is
comprehensive exams
i n E n g l is h l i t e r a t u r e .: Nonetheless: he failed^ to graduate on sched­
u le because o f not co m p leting the requirements: o f one course-
o a
tim e.. About t h i s event Sm ith wrote::
The professor*. S-* F o rste r Damony the renowned BI& h :
s c h o l a r , s a i d , "Young man, you h a v e demons in' you
and you must cast them o u t * " ’ He refused;, to accept
ray la t e p a p e r s , say in g , MT d o n '’t d isp ute that they
are b r i l l i a n t , but the c la ss did not have the bena£Lt o f th e m ."'
In the summer o f 1 9 5 8 Smith took a job w ith a small d a il y
newspaper in M a s sa c h u s e tts ,
The Southbridge E v en in g News .Sera: editor
Jim Sxiott he le a r n e d v a lu a b le
In 1 9 5 9 ,
lessons about economy o f expression.
b efo re becom ing a re p o r te r fo r a la r g e r newspaper,
I. h e
W orcester T e l e g r a m .. Sm ith m a rried M arion on February 2 1 .
B e in g a r e p o r te r means d e a lin g w ith many sorts o f people c r im in a ls ,
le a r n e d ,
government l e a d e r s ,
the most ig n o r a n t,
businessm en,
the l u c k i e s t ,t h e most
etc- This work: d e f i n i t e l y enlarged Sari.lh's
u n d e r s ta n d in g o f the w o rld*
L a t e r Sm ith was an e d i t o r and jo u r n a lis t f o r a wide v a r ie ­
ty o f p u b lic a tio n s : c o v erin g law , m ed icin e,
to ry,
and many o th e r s u b j e c t s .
a lc o h o lic beverages,his­
He became f a m il ia r w ith the world cf
M adison Avenue and the m ainstream o f B ig B u s in e s s*
By the time Smith, was able to found at sm all press cnapany
o f h is own,. The Sm ith., he had accumulated a ric h l i f e
T h is d i s s e r t a t i o n
experience..
aims at d e a lin g w ith 1 Smiths's
b a sic
p h ilo so p h y throughout h is poem-book T r i n i t y .
to be s t u d ie d also
in c lu d e s
The m a te ria l selected
The E a r l y Poems- Me..The People and sev­
e r a l o f the i s s u e s o f 'NewsART
and The Smith"»
’
''
n '
«Mil IMMM
^
. .
T h is stu d y puts forw ard the issu e o f the Am erican Semantic
h e r it a g e in
contemporary Ui.S.. poetry,
o f Em erson,
Thoreau,
b r i n g in g out the core ideas
Whitman and Crane,, and. t h e i r d e f i n i t e
in flu ­
ences- i n H arry S m it h rs workF in a lly ,
t h is
d i s s e r t a t i o n examines- T r in ity * s text ini
an
• attem pt to e x p l a i n Siaith,!s images and: symbols-* This s-tudy has. beat
supported ty ccntactsnw£6i the living au-ftor' hirnsalf during’ the whole literacy
re se a rc h p r o c e s s *
I..2-
Review o f C riticiso r;
Th s p it e o f b e in g a f a i r l y recent author,
Smith' evoked im­
m ediate a-cclaim among the c r i t i c s a f t e r , the p u b l i c a t io n o f Trinity
i n 1975.- The. c r i t i c s * a t t it u d e became even more fa v o r a b le
after
Sm ith r e c e iv e d the PEN_”s 1 9 7 6 Medwiek Award. A r th u r K n ig h t , . e d it o r o f The Unspeakable- V is io n s o f
In d iv id u a l.
w rote; in The New. Y o rk Culture- Reviews
. .
.
The
v.
T r i n i t y is so dammed good — — so b r i l l i a n t *
i
n
fa c t — that I f e e l com pelled to' w rite at. review of
i t * . . I t w i l l p o s s ib ly tempt some readers- t o>
say that the comfort Ham ilton draws from: nature is
too easy - — “'The tree^ o f Heaven f l o u r is h e d always
r a s p b e r r ie s burgeoned from the ru in s o f
rude
s h a c k s - **" — — and that it is not enough to- wateh
the shad swim "u p r i v e r into- the f u t u r e " and con?—
elude that man can command- the elem ents* But in a
work as r ic h '? as th is one,, where the v ar io u s po­
e t i c techniques^ become o b je c t iv e c o r r e la tiv e s
to
the e x p e rie n c e s set down, i t is f i n a l l y impossible
f o r the a n a l y t i c a l reader-to say that anythirg woiks
too e a s i l y . This is a book o f ^normous complexity^
a p o e tic h is t o r y o f our tim es*
O t h e r th an b e in g a pamphletariatt- work,. T r in i t y is a poet­
i c record o f the 7 Q r‘s and i t was
w e l l . re co g n ized for- that. James
Ryan Morris- wrote in Sm all P r e s s R eview ;
P eople I know seem to have fo rg o tte n what happened
o n ly l a s t week, never mind 197Q-* and; that t e l e v i ­
s io n coverage that dw e lled so gamely on the
eo;nv
stru c ticm workers' running amok i n New Y o r k 's streets
clu b b in g , stom ping poor h e lp le ss; bearded- fciids-,.an®
a l l in the name'; o f patriotism ! . • • T r i n i t y shows
a hardcore remembrance-- o f th at day, and t h i s book:
is a b a c k la s h at the occurence . .
. G n e
is;
reminded o f K enneth P a tch e m when re a d in g tim». this
work, cause there' is a v ery strong fo re © contained
h e re r that fo rce w i l l make t h i s one o f the
ch u te­
st and in g documents- o f the 70'*s .. .. .. Trinityis
one o f those rare books o f truth that we
seldom
see these- days-, everyone is so hung up o n
O' o rr—
t r i v i n g a stance in poetry- that they fo rg e t
what
the word p o e t r y means..
Ed San de rs wrote som ething s im ila r s
This work,, i n the mode o f poetry/ that stays n ew s,
is r ig h t there? — that is- . . . that p o e t r y s h o u l d
a g a i n 1 assume prime r e s p o n s a b il it y f o r the descrip­
tion) o f history?.
liés W h itte n ,
a w riter- critic. w orking w ith Jack Anderson-,
wrote- enthusiastically*- to Sm iths
Thankr you f o r T r in i t y 1. I fin is h e d ' it this- weekend
and I thinkr it just g re at, b o t h as poetry- a n d re­
portage-. The pages 14 to 16 were more v i v i d
thara
a n y th in g I ’ ve w r it t e n about riots-. H a m ilto n *» telplessnèss- has been my h e lp le s s n e s s at such times as
o f t e n I f e l t I was r e l i v i n g the worst o f thenrwWhich
I guess you intended.. Then the sw itch to "Tb g?*>ocis,
d e l i c a t e l y „ .. .." Very f in e s t u f f .
T r i n i t y *s pro t a g o n is t ,
Valm iki by Tambirautty,
John Hamilton*
was compared ta)arsew
the e d it o r o f Eondon^s The Eyre bird- P r e s s .
He wrote to Sm iths
You have created a new Valnriki, who" is the a l l —
s e e in g n a rra to r o f the great In d ia n epic,- The Baa ma y ana-, w h ic h a cco rd in g to the Harvard classics-,
was the prototype f o r the O d issey y i g Ham ilton^ I
hope he has more s t o rie s to telli u s .
As a m atter o f fact a l l c r i t i c s had S m it h 's hero
i n good
account,
and, most o f thenr, as James Morris, identified? with.' himr
H is ( S m i t h 's ) J?ohn' Hamilton:' is you, me, every mam
who? cares f o r the u n ific a tio n s among the Am erican^
no m atter what the 'b e lie fs o f the i n d i v id u a l s
Seymour Krim also w r it e s p o s i t i v e l y about Ham iltonr
Harry Smith:*s f i r s t m ajor story/poem g ives us
a.
hero- who is to u c h in g ly (who can touch; himV), humane
not m onstrous* f o r a shredded? time l i k e o u r s .
As
a m atter o f f a c t , John Hamilton: is; an extremely?
l i k e a b l e and decent man* One would l i k e h i® to go>
on and on* l i k e Nero; Yfolfe who bears: w it n e s s * T o>
create a new ch a ra c ter f o r one^s time is a humane;
as welll as a r t i s t i c act that moves a l l o f us whoo
need i n t e l l i g e n t and honorable fr ie n d s more
than
i d e a s * I won*t fo rg e ^ you, J o h n — you live: f o r m®
l i k e a re a l p erso n*
As concerns the Americans l i t e r a r y T r a d i t i o n in T r in it y .
c r i t i c s seem to be s p l i t * W h ile Dicle H ig g in s,, e d it o r o f Som ething
E ls e P r e s s ., seems to b e lie v e
p r o fe s s o r Hugh Fox,
that T r i n i t y is com pletely innovating
from M ic h ig a n U n iv e r s it y ,
the same ep ic p a t t e r n o f The B r id g e .
D ic k H ig g in s wrote
states that i t follows
P a terso n and Maximus Poem s..
in Contact H r
The h ard est k in d o f p o e t r y to review is that which
does not resemble in any way the. g o in g schools
<£
the a r t * One w i l l read T r i n i t y by Harry Smith) i eb
v a i n lo o k in g f o r the in flu e n c e s o f 0 1 son* W. Carlos
W illia m s * The B lac k Mountain: S c h o o l 'o r - althoughit is where he l i v e s and works and e d its h is mag,
The Smitfe — anyr o f the New York groups* It is
as
i f Sm ith’ usedi h is c e n tr a l location- as- publisherand the- c it y to know what others- were doing a n d
what he need not th erefo re d u p lic a te * In f a c t , tireo n ly antecedent
f o r the college- style and u s e o f
found and concrete m a t e r ia l s are the new sreel seotio n s o f John Dos P a s s o s ' s U *S *A * In s p ite o f whidi
the o v e r a ll tone o f T r i n i t y is not p ro sy /b u t Whitmanesque l y r i c a l * 9
Hugh Fox has w r it t e n in one o f the e a rly comments included
on the dust
jacket o f T r i n i t y p u b lis h e d by H o rizo n P r e s s ;
R a b e l a i s i a n Sm ith goes serious- and produces a giant
in the t r a d i t i o n o f C r a n e ’’s- The B r id g e ., W illiam : *s
P a t e r s o n ,O l s o n 's Maximus Poem3-» Themer human?, t o i b b
co m m erc ia l/ m erc an tile values.- Wonderfully? dynamic
and apt i n t h is Y ear o f O u r Lord 1975Ch arles
G uenther a n a l y s in g T r i n i t y 1s language and rftythnr
w roter
A' stylistie- m a ste rp ie ce .. » » a n a r r a t io n containing
the f i n e s t elem ents o f ly ric ism : and su sp en se fu l disma
..
T r i n i t y is a poem o f confront rat ions,.be —
tween- young and old', weak" and strong,, id ea and: re­
a lit y *. More communicative than the .Cantos»more:.syiw
copated- than Ash Wednesday, it is f il l e d ! with? t&e;
t r a d i t i o n a l rhythms- and grand- scope^ o f Aniericaan
p o e t r y from Whitmam to Crane,, Pounds and Cummings
An a r t i c l e p u b l is h e d in; The Am erican L ib r a r y A s s o c i a t i o n
journal1,, Choices,. i n M arch o f 1 9 7 6 i d e n t i f i e d Smithes- Whitmasrresqu©*
in flu en c e:
Sm ith is c l e a r l y a c h ild o f Whitman in h is use- o f
the language-, and at times tocr’ much? soy the words
get away from him in an u n d is c ip le n e d 3 torrent-But
the bookr is- o f thematic' rich n ess and re veals a p>e t i e hand1 th at is skilled* and sure most o f the tine^
d e s p it e i t s sa g g in g spots, it makes most recent
books o f p o e t r y seem ra th e r timid: and d u l l . ^
Choice goes as fair- as W a lte r Low enfxeld who had s a i d T r i­
n ity
all
should be r e q u ir e d reading-» Choice- recommends the booie: fo r
co lleg e and u n i v e r s i t y l i b r a r i e s :
A k in d o f p o etry in whicha verse,, prose^ and drama
merge is dem onstrated h ere, and it is quit® possi­
ble^ the poet has provided- a suggestive model foro th e r poets w is h in g to deal w ith the public; r e a l­
i t i e s o f o u r tim es» Recommended fo r a l l college?
and u n i v e r s i t y l i b r a r i e s »13
Regardless o f the relevance o f a l l t h is c r i t i c a l material,
t h is d i s s e r t a t i o n attem pts to b rin g to l ig h t new c r i t i c a l
spective. on the work-o f Harry Sm ith,
per.
—
one o f the established: con —
temporary American authors- o f the past twenty years who> are hardly
known i n B r a z i l .
1!.3 ••
Statem ent o f Purpose
T h i s ' study doe’s riot in t e n d to show Harry Smith: as a pure­
l y Homantic poet but as an outgrowth o f the United^ S t a t e s contenrp orary scene which! is g r e a t ly influ en ced : by it s own Am erican past*
.. . 1
s h a H b a s i c a l l y p o in t out th at T r i n i t y is> an appraisal,
o f n ature ..and human i n d i v i d u a l i s m and* at the same tim e* a. coim —
mitment to tech n o lo g y .
In h i s
T r in ity «. Smith: accep ts the basic;
t ran scen d e n tal id ea s but,., also develops- a, Whitmanesque v iew
progress^,
of
p a r a l l e l i n g h is w o rk to Hart Grane"s^ The Bridge^.
It
is our o b je c t iv e to show that T r i n i t y is not simplicistt
c a l l y p r e a c h in g the s u p e rio r o rd e r o f the past over the present
and a t t a c k in g tech n o lo g y ,
commerce and i n d u s t r y . T r i n i t y favors a 1
u n d e r s t a n d in g o f the machine age f o r i t
is an appeal to manfs wise
use' o f technology..
The means o f a r r i v i n g at these co nclusio ns have m ostlyr
been a close a n a l y s i s
o f the te x t i t s e l f .
I n choosing Harry Sm ithes T r in i t y as the s u b je c t f o r the
d i s s e r t a t i o n we mean to show a non—e s c a p is t
litera tu re.
T rin ity
cenctental id e a s
contemporary' pieca= o f
is not o n ly important f o r i t s in h erite d; trars-
w hich can be studied? in the context o f American
lit e r a r y trad itio n ,
but* a l s o ,
f o r the a c t u a l i t y o f it s anthropo­
l o g i c a l concepts w h ic h correspond to the mainstreams o f thought
e n co u n te re d w it h in h i gift i n t e l l e c t u a l
c i r c l e s ,, not o n ly ini the U -
n it e d S t a t e s but throughout the w o r l d .
BIBLIOGRAPH I GAB.. REFERENCES,
^A u to b io g ra p h ic a l. in fo rm atio n w r i t t e n to the author ini liSO.
2
A r th u r W i n f i e l d K n ig h t ,
Septem ber, 1 9 7 5 ) .
v ie w .
New York Culture R eview ,,(New Yorks
^James Ryan M o r r is , "H ard Core Remembrance11, Sm all Press Re­
(Number 34-35* v o l „ 7 * n o v ./d e c - ,. 1 9 7 5 ) .
4
T r in ity
Ed S a n d e r s e a r l y
c r it i c i s m
(New Yorkr H o r izo n P r e s s ,
5
in c lu d e d on the dust jacket of
1 9 7 5 );
Ees W h i t t e n 's words in a p e rso n a l l e t t e r to S m it & on Q;cto—
b e r 12,, 1 9 7 5 *
ß
Tambimutty:1s words in a personals l e t t e r to Smithi on A p r il
3rd,, 19777*
7
M o r r is ,."H a r d Core Remembrance".
g
Seymour K r i m 's e a r l y c r it ic is ir also
jack et o f T r i n i t y .
^B ic k H i g g i n s ,
Contact I I
(p».24)
■^Ugh F o x ’ s e a r ly c r i t i c i s m .a l s o
^feharle s- Guenther- also
^ B h o ic e - M arch *7 6 .
1
in c lu d e d on the dust
in T r i n i t y .
in T r in it y .
CHAPTER
TWO
THE PARAMETERS OF NORTH! AMERICAN ROMANTICISM
There used to be a tim e lag between American and Englisib
litera ry
movements*
R o m- a n tie- i s nr;
which1 flowered' in.
E n glan d in 1 7 9 8 ,
w it h the p u b l i c a t io n o f W o rdsw orth's andi Coleridge's
Lyrical^ B a l l a d s ,
d id not a p p ear in f u l l bloomi in the United. States-,
u n t i l the m iddle o f the n in e t e e n t h century*
D u r in g t h is h a l f
cen tu ry ,
the U n ite d S t a t e s 1 went through
some o f the g r e a te s t changes in h is t o r y * Around 185Q it was- s t i l l
m ain ly , a country o f farmers.- Trade and m anu factu ring were growing1
more im portant each decade but" i t was not u ntil, the I'8 7 0 fs that a
m a jo r it y o f Am ericans were m aking a l i v i n g in non-farming o ccu p a ­
t io n s .. M eanw hile,
the p o p u la tio n soared from 23 m il l i o n to 76 minim
i n 1900'w. In the middle^ o f the century, negro sla v e ry was s t i l l sl
fa c t, in Am erican l i f e
and the n a tio n was b e in g s p l i t
The South d efe n d e d sla v ery more and more v ig o ro u sly ?
ic ize d
in two by i t *
the Nortibcrit­
it more and more e a rn e s tly .. The b i t t e r war waged between 1ie
North and -fee South fern 183L Id 18$ perm anently a l t e r e d the ch a ra c ter o f
Am erican l i f e .
F o r many - Whitman f o r one — i t was the cen tral fact
o f t h e i r l i v e s .. For the South' i t meant the l i n g e r i n g flavor of defeat
f o r the negroes i t meant freedom from sla v e ry ,
i f not a l l the free­
dom en jo y ed by the w h ite s*
A f t e r the C iv il. War the n a tio n entered a p erio d o f vast
commercial e x p a n s io n * R a ilr o a d s st r e tc h e d ’ from-one end o f the cmnfcry
to the o th e r * F a c to rie s were b u i l t * C i t i e s grew* Fortune© were
made *
Am ericans,
whether native- born o r immigrants,
than ev er before- T h e y .h a d more o p p o r t u n it ie s ,
as a r e s u l t ,
they fe lt- a p a trio tis m ’,
earned more
more freedonr.Q'fteiry
a trust i n t h e i r country, that
made them sure that the U n ited S ta te s was the g re ate st nation*
om
ea rth .. O n ly a few o f t h e i r f e l l o w countrymen f e l t o th e rw ise;H o w ever,
these few in c lu d e d some o f the most notable t h in k e rs o f the
tim e,
and,
most s i g n i f i c a n t ,
some" o f the b est w rite rs ..
Am erican Romanticism embodies; basically? the sam^ ideas
E n g lis h Rom anticism .
as
It is. a r e a c t io n a g a in s t the development
of
in d u str y and a h ig h l y c i v i l i z e d and a r t i f i c i a l style o f l i f e ?
i t
turns in p r a is e o f all. that is sim ple ,
Am erican Romanticism^, l i k e
. believe^ there
i s no. mystery- l e f t
n a t u r a l,
even p rim itiv e ,.
it s E n g l is h c o u n t e r p a r t ,does not
in u n iv e r s e * but,
sees m ystery everywhere; — in a flower*
on .the contrary,
a tree,. a cloudy se s t a r ..It
is a r e a c t io n a g a in s t n eo - classical,, dry,, in t e l l e c t u a l iz e d ,."m a t h ­
em atical1" ,
r a t i o n a l i s t th o ug h t;, i t is an attempt to go back to i —
m aginatio n,, p l u g g i n g i n s p i r a t i o n and i n t u i t i o n ,
........
The Am erican Romantic.s
o f . the mid-19tlfc century*
w h &
termed them selves Transcencfentali.sts, were le d by Ralph Waldo Emer*.
son and Henry D av id Thoreau,.
The p h ilo so p h y o f Emerson and Thoreau was stim u lated
b y
the m y s t i c a l .w r i t i n g s o f O r ie n ta l, l it e r a t u r e ,, e s p e c i a l l y the BhagSrv a d G ita
(a sacred Hindu text): and' the thoughts o f a n cie n t writers:
like. Plato and P lo tin u s ?
i t was encouraged: by sympathetic.- ideas, e-
choing i n the works o f contemporary Englishmen! like- Coleridge, and
(S'sr l y l e ?
i t was fed by the German p h ilo s o p h ie s o f K an t* He,geH. and
Gfcethe-.,
•'To t r a n s c e n d ,: means
Transc<aicierfcalists,
go beyond,
*to go b e y o n d 1' something,. For the
the terirr sim ply meant that there are truth s -feat
or- transcend,
ra th e r than to the mind,
protjf» These, truths are known to the heart
the truth s
ar.e
f a."l t em o tio nally evan
though they can not be proved l o g i c a l l y ,.
P h i l o s o p h ic a l l y ,
Transcendentalism is the re c o g n itio n i n
man o f the ca p a c ity o f knowing truthi in t u it iv e l y ,, or,, o f attaining
knowledge tr a isc e n d in g the reach o f the s e n s e s ,
Emerson drew a shaTp d i s t in c t io n 'b e t w e e n the
w hich he meant the ra tio n a l fa c u lt y ,
'Underslanding*,
and the "R e a s o n ",b y .w h i c h
he meant the s u p r a r a t io n a l o r i n t u i t iv e
•R e a s o n 1' as much more a u t h o r it a t iv e
fa c u lt y ? and he regarded
in s p i r i t u a l m atters than •QxTep-
s t a n d i n g '., G l o r i f y i n g i n t u i t i o n and r e p u d ia t in g a l l
ex ter n a l re­
l i g i o u s a u th o r ity ,, he proclaim ed in a speeclr a t Harvard U n iv ersity
in l 8 3 8 r
'
N o th in g
your m ind„
l a s t sacred but the integrity?
The Trans cendant si is ts h e ld that most o f what it
o f
is c a l l ­
ed' "v a lu e s '1 lies .o u tsid e the l im it s o f reason and b e l o n g rath er to
the realm o f i n s t i n c t o r i n t u i t i o n .
It
is a
m atter o f p riv a te ex­
perience^, f a i t h , and c o n v ic t io n * .
Transcendentalism is a philosophy w hich seeks: to e x p la in
man,
Godi,
and nature- through? some means= o th e r than sense experience»
F 6r the TranscerdentaLists,
the key word i s ; intuition-}
the immediate
g r a s p in g o f things- w ithout d e fe n d in g upon reason o r knowledge ..In­
tu itio n
'’t r a n s c e n d s ' reason and e x p e r i e n c e ? . the greater* a raanrs
i n t u i t i v e powers,
the g re a te r h is a b i l i t y to u nd e rsta n d the world
around him..
Whereas the P u r it a n fo re fa t h e r s
sought p r im a r ily to
the m eaning o f God^ and thereby the meaning o f man,
t the d e f i n i t i o n o f man» .This
Thoreau looked S q -
Emerson’
reversal
caused a new s t r e s s upon the i n d i v i d u a l .S e l f - c o n f i d e n c e ,
•s e l f - r e l is n c e ,
fin d
a m &
o f ide^
self-irus^.
and s e l f development were the concrete- b ric k s of
transcedentsdi thought» Emerson wroter '
There is a time in every m an'’s e d u c a tio n when he
a r r iv e s at the co n v ictio n that envy i s ignorance.;
that im it a t io n is suicide?? that he must take him­
s e l f fo r b ette r} fo r worse* a s h is p ortion? t h a t
though the wide- univer-se is f u l l o f good, no ker­
n e l o f n o u r is h in g corn can come to him but through
h i s t o i l bestowed on>that p lo t o f ground w hich is
given- to hint to t i l l » The power w h ic h re sid e s i n>
hinr is new i n nature-, and none but h e 'k n o w s what
he can do,, n o r does he know u n t i l he has tried.ibt
f o r n o thin g one fa c e , one character* one fact,rrdces
much im pression o n 'h im , and ano ther n o n e .
T h i s
sc u lp tu r e in the memory is not w ithout pre-estaHifirjad
harmony.. The eye was p l a c e d where one ray
sh ould
f a l l , that i t m ight t e s t i f y o f th at p a r t i c u l a r ism.
We but h a l f exp ress o u r s e lv e s , and are- ashamed o f
th at d iv in e idea, whicits each o f us represents-. I t
may be s a f e l y trusted' as proportionate and good’
is s u e s , so it be f a i t h f u l l y im parted, but God will
not have h i s work" made m anifest by cowardis. A man«
is r e lie v e d ' and gay when he has put h is h eart in ­
to h is work: and done h is best? but what he has said
o r done o th e r w is e , s h a l l give him n o - p e a c e .I t is
a d e liv e r a n c e w hich does not d e liv e r .. In the attsgpt
h i s genius d e s e rts him; no muse b e fr ie n d s ? no i n ­
v e n tio n ,. no h o p e . Trust y o urself': every h eart v i ­
b r a te s to th at ir o n s t r i n g .
The s p i r i t o f God is everywhere- f o r the Transcendental is t s.
Emerson r e f e r r e d to t h is always present force as the over—so u l
flickerto r w it h d i f f e r e n t
intensity .
Because.: the ,fcomplexio.ii'',i c£
the
over—so ul v arie d : from flower- to- animal, to man. and because:- man tran­
scended each o f these forms,
h i m s e l f , be comes divine-. It
m ystical
lo v e
fo r
nature
o f . Transcendentalism.
the human being,, by attem p tin g to be
is f o r this- reason that an
is'
seen
as
an:
almost
e s s e n t ia l
featu re
Emerson said?
Nature is the symbol o f the s p i r i t . ^
Through: m an’ s in t u i t mu*-, s p i r i t
the e x p re ssio n s o f n a tu r e .
could be recognized' . i m
Thoreau* in h is experiment witlfc nature
at W alden Pondt. seeks the m eanings u n d e r ly in g the symbols o f
the
New En g lan d l a n d s c a p e ;
I went to the woods because I w ished to l iv e de —
l i b e r a t e l y , to fro n t o nly the essen tia l, fa c ts o f
l i f e , and see i:f I could not le a rn what it h a d to:
teach* and n o t,w h e n I came to d ie , d is c o v e r
that
I had not liv e d .. I d id not w is h to live- what
was
not l i f e , l i v i n g is so dear? nor did I wisht opractice- r e s ig n a t io n , unless, it was q uite necessary..
I w an ted to l i v e deep and suck: out a l l that was rob
l i f e ,.t o cut a- broad swath and sh ave c lo s e , to drive
life- into a? corner* and re d u c e it to its- low est
terms, and, i f it proved to be- mean* w h y therr t O)
get the whole and genuine- meanness o f it,and publish
it s meaness to the w o rld fo r i f i t were su b lim e,to
know i t by? e x p e rie n c e * and be able-to- give
a trus
account o f i t in my next excursion;.
As f o r Emersonv self- relian ce ; and independence? o f m indw s«
v ery im portant and1*
in
th is r e g a r d
Thoreau: s a i d ':-
I would not have? any one adopt my modes? o f l iv in g *
each should f i n d his^ own way,, not h i s n eig h b o r’' s
or h i s p a r e n t s " .
In the same s p i r i t he alscn wrote-;
I f a- man does no't keep pace- with' M^s companicms-*
perhaps i t is b ec a u se he hears a d i f f e r e n t dirurmer.
Let hinr s-fcep to> the m ^ s ic w h ic h he hears,, howeverm easured o r f a r away*
Thoreau. condemned- a l l k in d s o f compromise* as Emerson* had
done,, and advised* h is f e llo w
c i t i z e n s to e n j o y l i f e f o r it s
o wm
sake.. They should sp en d t h e i r time* he to ld 7 theirr,. living- rath er
than g e t t i n g a l i v i n g s
This w orld is a place o f business..W hat an infinite
bustleIL I am awakened almost every n ig h t by
the
p a n t in g o f a locom otive* It in t e rr u p ts ray/ dreams..
There is no: s a b b a th . It would be glorious^ to s e e
mankind'apt l e is u r e at once .. I t is- no thing, but vnoEk,
work* w o rk . I cannot easily/ buy- a-: blank bo ok
t a
write- thoughts i n ; they are commonly r u le d
f o r
dollsi® and cents-,. An Irishm an* s e e in g m® making- a
minute in the f i e l d s , toair it f o r g ra n te d that
I
was c a l c u l a t in g my w ag es. I f a- man was- to ssed out
o f a window when an in fa n t* and so-> made- a cripple
f o r l i f e ,, o r scared out o f h i s w its by the Indians*
it is regretted- c h ie f l y because he was thus inea—p a c it a t e d for- — business!: I t h in k that there is m —
t h in g , not even crime,, more opposed to poetry^. to
philosophy,, ay * to l i f e itselfT, than t h is incessant
b u s in e s s *
T h o r e a u
b edien ce
stro n g ly
b e lie v e d in u s in g c i v i l diso ­
to p ro test government a c t i o n s . He wroter
I have p a id no poll-tax f o r s i x years.. I was; put
into j a i l once on th is account* f o r ome night^arr^
as I stood c o n sid e r in g the w a lls o f soliefc stone*
two or three- fe e t t h ic k , the doo;r o f wood and inn
g r a n t in g w hich s t r a in e d the l i g h t , I could m o t
h e lp b e in g struck w ith the f o o l i s h n e s s o f that ins­
t i t u t i o n w hich tr e a te d me as if - I w ere mere flesh ard
b lo o d and b o n es, to "be lo c k e d u p * . * As they? could
not reach? me,, they had r e s o lv e d to? punish, m y body;
ju st as boys,. ±f th ey c a n n o t. com e'at' some persons
a g a in s t whour they, have s p i t e , w i l l abuse h is do<g*
I saw that the State- was-' h a lf- w itte d , that it was
t im id as a lone womarr- witlii h e r s i l v e r spoons,, and
th at did not know it s f r i e n d s fronr it s foes,.and I
l o s t g a l l my rem aining respect fo r it,, and p i t i e d
it*
There was an u n d y in g stream o f optimism, running- forcefully
b eneath each o f Em erson*s and Thoreau^s- essays and poems* Althou^a
i n t u i t i o n is prim ary,, a l l men are bound together- b y 'th e
l i g h t o f reason*
d iv in e
and share the o p p o r tu n ity to se ek the source^
of
truth; whichri they b e l ie v e lie.® w it h in them-. The burden), is man*1s.own
ter bear? he should seek: in o rd e r to d is c o v e r the f u l l force o f ii®
d iv in e l i g h t ,
a n d r i n t h is way,, man
c i e t y * through reform ,
would achieve p e r f e c t ia.nwS.a-—
changes m an.
E m e rs o n 's own wo'rds h elp the u n d e r sta n d in g o f the true- meaning
o f t h is v i t a l n in e t e e n t h century phil<rsophy- which so much: influ en ced
su c c e e d in g l i t e r a t u r e s
What is p o p u la r ly c a lle d Transcendentalism-among
u s, is Id ealism ? Id e a lism as it appears i:nj 1 8 4 2 . As
t h in k e r s , mankind have ever d iv id e d into sects,the
M ateria] i s t s and the Id e a l is t s ..,.* the f i r s t class
b e g in n in g to th in k from d a ta o f the senses are me
f i n a l ..... The t r a n s c e d e n t a lis t ..** b e l ie v e s in
m ir a c le , i n the p erp etu al openness o f the humane
m ind to new i n f l u x o f l i g h t and^power; he believes
in i n s p i r a t i o n , and in ecstasy *
M ir a c l e ,
openness,
in s p i r a t i o n and ecstasy - there- is
3spe
fo r m ankind* They are the work po in ts fo r Emerson ana Thorea.ufc‘Jhey
are the f i b e r s o f the Transcendental mind w h ich was inserted- in
Am erican l i t e r a r y h e r it a g e *
The Transceadentalists t i r e l e s s l y sound the same chord,
s t r a in i n g to b u i l d a new s o c ie t y w hich should a ffir m the rig h ts cf
the
i n d i v i d u a l and respect h i s d ig n it y *
The b e l i e f
n o b lin g ,
the
in the in d iv id u a l,. the id e a that nature was en­
c r it i c i s m that commerce degrades men,
all. were; b a sic
p lan k s in the platform ' w ith which: the Transcerrfentalists tried'
b u ild in literatu re
to'
an i d e n t i t y and a heritages f o r the young A-
m erican n a t io n *
The id e a s and goals set e a r l i e r by
d ev elo p ed a lo n g w it h the U n ite d S t a t e s ,
the Transcendental is ts
it s h is t o r y and ch aracter
and Am erican l i t e r a t u r e a c h ie v e d a new depth in the Romantic traditio n ..T h e
fo rc e s w hich made up America at the turn of the century?
were numerous,
but Transcendentalism su rv iv ed as the k elso n cf l a t e r
Am erican l i t e r a t u r e *
W alt Whitman,, Em erson"s contemporary*
v o ic e s to
was one o f the first
s in g b oth the p a s t o r a l and the urban- when he wrote: about
New York: C it y ,
lo co m o tives,
w orld trad e,
all
in the context o f d i­
v i n e l y ,ri n s p ir e d '" N atu re*
W h itm a n 's hymns to the g lo r ie s o f nature-and the rustic
life,
and also- h i s r e je c t io n s o f p a s t o r a l v alu es in fa v o r o f t h e ;
crowded l if e : o f the
scendentalism
c i t y r represent the new s p l i t values o f ® Tran­
i n movement,
a Transceidentslisnr w h ich was b e g in n in g
to compromise w it h 'fciviI1i z a t i o n ',/t e c h n o lo g y *
In the development o f h is
ideas W alt Whitman: was influenced
most by the w r it in g s o f Emerson.. Prom Emerson he adopted' the ideas
o f the need f o r Am ericans to be independent and s e lf- s u ffic ie n t ,,
to do t h e i r own t h in k in g ,
and to' be dem ocratic*
Whitmans saw America as a nation.' o f in d iv id u a l s .. To' hinr as
to Emerson,
the i n d i v id u a l was supreme:
O n e 's s e l f I sin g , a simple separate person,,
Yet u t t e r the word D em o cratic, the word' En-Siasse..
O f p h y s io lo g y 7 alone nor b r a i n alone is worthy f o r
/t h e M use, I'
say the Fbrrn is complete worthier- f a r ,
The Female e q u a lly w ith the Male I sin g *
O f L i f e immense in passion,, pulse,, and powerr,
C h ee rfu l,, f o r fr e e s t a c tio n ' formed; u n d e r the laws
10
/d iv in e ,
The Modern Man I s in g *
Whitman und ersto o d the
composed o f
's im p l e ,
importance o f the
separate p e r s o n s ".. H is
id e a o f demo-cracy
"So ng o f Myself'*
i s
a d e c l a r a t i o n o f independence o f the i n d i v i d u a l :
I ce le b r a te m y self, and s in g myself,.
And what I assume you shall, assume,.
For every atom "belonging to me as good as
b elo ngs to you..
I l o a f and in v it e my~souI,.
I l e a n and l o a f at my ease:: o b se rv in g a speair
o f summer g ra ss. .....
The smoke o f my own breath',,
Iffy, re s p ir a tio n : and i n s p ir a t io n , the b e a t in g o f njy
h e a r t , the p a s s in g o f blood and a i r through!
my lungs,,.
The s n i f f o f green leav es and dry le a v e s and o f ihe.-r
shore and darks-colorrd sea-rocks-, and of hayr
i n the b a m ,.
The p la y o f shine and shade^ on the tr e e s as the
supple boughs wag,.
The d e l ig h t alone o r in the rush' o f the streets,.
o r alone the f i e l d s and h i l l s i d e s ,.
The f e e l i n g o f h e a l t h , the f u l l —noon t r i l l ,, the
song o f me r i s i n g from bed! and m eetin g the s m „ ,
Stop t h is day and n ig h t with' me and you s h a ll possess
the o r i g i n o f a l l poems,.
You s h a ll p o sse ss the good o f the earth: and sure
(there are m il l io n s o f suns l e f t ) ,
You s h a l l no lo n g e r take things at second o r thirds
hand, n o r lo o k through the eyes o f the d e a d ,
n o r fe e d on the sp ecters in books,,
You s h a l l not look through, my eyes.- e i t h e r * n o r take
th in g s from me,.
You s h a l l l i s t e n : to a l l g^des- and; f i l t e r them
from your s e l f
Whitman wrote about nature a great deal though he also
wrote poems which' show h is acceptance .o f urban values- and h is
trnst
iin p rogress.. H is poem "To a Locomotive in W inter” is a compromise
w ith p ro g re sss
Thee f o r my r e c it a t iv e ,.
Thee
in the d r i v in g storm even as now, the snow,,
the w in t e r —day d e c l i n in g *
T h e e ' in the panoply, thy m easured dual, th rob bing
and the b e a t convulsive,.
Thy blacK: e y l i n d r i e body, golden b ra s s an d s i l v e r y
steel* '
Thy ponderous side- bars* p a r a lle l, and co n n ec tin g
rods* g y r a tin g , s h u t t l i n g at t h y s id e s *
Thy m e t r ic a l, now s w e l l in g pant and roar,, now
t a p e r in g in the d i s t a n c e *
Thy great p ro tu d in g h ead- lig ht f i x ,(d; ‘in fro n t*
T h y lo n g , p a l e , f l o a t i n g vapor—pennants,, t i n g e d
" witfti d e l ic a t e purple*
The dens© /and m urky clouds- out—b e l c h in g f roirr tliy
smoke-stack-*
Thy k n it t e d fram e, t h y springs- and v a lv e s *
the trem ulo us tw inkle o f thy w heels*
T h y t r a in o f cars b e h in d * obedient,, m e r r i l y foiaorai^
Through: gale*'or calnr, no^w s w ift,, now sla c k * yet
s t e a d i l y c a r e e r in g ’?
Type o f the modern — emblenr o f m otion and power- pulse o f the co n tin en t*
For once come serve the Muse and merge in v erse*
even as here I see th ee*
With' storm: and b u f f e t i n g ! gusts o f ."wind and f a l l i n g
snow*
By d a y t h y w arnin g r i n g in g b e l l to sound; it s n otes*
B y n ig h t thy- s i l e n t s ig n ^ J lamps to swing»
F ie rce- th ro ated b e a u t y » .
Whitman* s 'lo c o m o tiv e 1,1 is a hymn to the s p i r i t u a l i z a t io n ! c£
t e c h n o lo g y 'w h ic h i s l a t e r
repeated by Hart C r a n e 's
"B r id g e ",
H is u nderstan ding- o f progress added to h i s exuberant a f fe c t i o n f o r New York* which was then in the process o f technification
and h u r r ie d u r b a n i z a t i o n th o ug h i t s t i l L p reserv ed v e s t ig e s o f a
M e i v i l l i a n o r Irvingnesque p a s to ra l p ast caused Whitman to w rite
some o f h i s most b eautifu lL.v e rsesr
0
T r o to ir s thronged, v e h i c l e s , Broadway* the women,
the shops and the shows,
A. m illio n : people — manners fr e e and superb' —
open v o ic e s - h o s p i t a l i t y — the most corageous
and f r i e n d l y young men* '
C it y o f h u r r ie d and' sp a rk in g w ate rs', c it y o f spiresand masts iC it y nested' in b a y sl my c i t y i
Whitman was also an inn o v ato r in American l i t e r a t u r e .
thought th a t the v o ic e o f democracy should .no't .be
d i t i o n a l forms o f p o e t r y .
Hi e
haltered by tra­
His. p o e tic sty le was the fr e e v e r s e ,
e t r y w itho ut a f i x e d beat o r r e g u la r rhyme scheme- H is
po­
in flu e n c e
was sm all d u r in g h i s time but today elements o f M s . style; are; ap­
p aren t i n the work- o f many p o e t s . D u rin g th is
as Carll Sandburg-and the
owest
century,
poets- such
’’B e a t " Allen. G in sb erg (and Smith)))
hav e
som ething to hinrw
From Whitman on there w%s- a gradual, s u b s t i t u t i o n i n the be­
lief
that man was o c c u p y in g an exposed and threaten ed position*
i n the scheme, o f urb an l i f e .
Man would ncr. lo n g er be seen sim ply as
specifier i n d i v id u a l a g a in s t p a r t i c u l a r backgrounds but as a product
o f .urban s o c ie t y ,
surrounded
B e fo re 1 9 0 0 ,
the U n ite d S ta te s was a l a r g e l y r u r a l country
and t h is was what Emerson;
w r it e r s r e f l e c t e d .
e x u be ra n tly ,
and made sm aller b y the c i t y .
Thoreau and o th er great 1 9 t h century
N everth eless1
, Whitman,
unfetteredly,
sang
tra n s c e n d in g h i s
h i s young n a t io n which,
I n the b e g in n in g o f th is
century,
time,,
was; to* changs.
the same s tru g g le
w&s
fought by Hart Cranev In an agony o f suspenses between- angrily? re­
jecting- the w orld about him ,
merce,
criticizing- education,, b u s in e s s , com­
and the v u l g a r i t y o f Am erica,
and se e in g in A m e r ic a 's vast
bea u ty a. powear that he tried ' to understand,
accept and exp res sy
Hart Crane wrote one o f the most compelling* o f a l l modern poems,
"The B r i d g e ".
As we= s h a l l
see? l a t e r Crane is a k in d o f b rid g e between
n in e t e e n t h century Tr&nscendeitalism
and the NeovTranscerxfentalism
w hich s t i l l forms the base f o r much o f contemporary tF.S.
e s p e c ia l l y th at o f s e m i _ l,c o n s e r v a t iv e s tt: l i k e
Harry S.mith.,
This d i s s e r t a t i o n in a way could be s u b t it le d
Am erican C o n t in u it y 1' because
poetry;
Study in
contemporary U .S .. p o etry is heavily
in flu e n c e d by i t s own American p a s t . The contem porary is a. resur­
gence o f . the autochthonous.. P a r a d o x ic a lly the most ‘“f lu id % quick­
silver- culture i n the w orld a t the same time is heavy with- nativetrad itio n -
U n lik e E l i o t 's
'The Waste Land w h ic h is an account o f West­
ern C i v i l i z a t i o n 's apparent f a i l u r e ,
C r a n e 's The B ridge
is
t h e
c e le b r a t io n o f the unbroken stream o f hum anistic id e a lism that he
saw in the Am erican h i s t o r i c a l exp erien ce..
F a s c in a t e d by E l i o t 's
ophy.
te ch n iq u e,
C.rane fought h is p h ilo s ­
lie turned to E l i o t 's o p p o s i t e s -- the v i s i o n s ,
the very mot­
toes .of. The B rid ge are those o f Whitman and Em ily D ic k in s o n .
"Tb The B ro o kly n B ridge'",
the prelude- to "3he S i d g e " is
an
'apotheosis-..of the t e c h n o lo g ic a l* part o f m o d e m American
0? harp arid a l t a r , o f the f u r y fused*" f
(Ho^w oouldmere- toil a l i g n t h y c h o ir i n g s-tingsl);
Terrific- th re s h o ld o f the prophefs- pledge*
P r a y e r o f p a r i aft, and the lover-rs cry* —
'
A g a in the t r a f f i c l i g h t s that skinr t h y s w ift
Uhfrac-tioned;iidiomy immaculate sigfr o f stars,.
B e a d in g thy path - condense etern ity ::
And we have seen n ig h t l i f t e d in^ thine aimis..
Under thy shadow by the p ie r s I w a i t e d ;
O n ly in darkness in thy shadow c le a r *
The C i t y 's f i e r y p arcels a l l undone*
A lr e a d y snow submerges an iro n year*..*
Q S l e e p l e s s as the river- under?- thee
V a u l t in g the sea, the p r a i r i e s ' dream ing sod,,
Unto us l o w l ie s t sometime- sweep,
^
* And o f the curveship lend' am ytki to (5od:*
‘Ihe
acknowledges Man,
the creator* as- g en eric anei
anonymous* H is c r e a t io n is more important*
ience t h is
In the American exper­
cre a to r is the master- o f a w ild continent and the aar -
c h it e c t O'f the country*'s „dreams*
‘’The Br'icge"
fig u re s,
is a set o f. d isp arate poems u n ite d b y n a tio n a l
le g e n d s, :. e a r l y h is t o r y ,
modern in v en ta tio n s - a l l i n t e r ^
woven to express the 'Kyth o f Am erica” *
The ce n tral
idea o f 'Q b
Bridgs" is an organic; panorama stow­
in g the continuous and l i v i n g evidence of the past in the inmost
v i t a l substance o f the present., _
”'Va.rr> Winkfe" is a t r a n s it io n 1 betw een sleep and immin e n t tasks
o f the day* The p ro ta g o n ist leaves h is roonr. f i l l e d w it h harbor-
sounds and walks to the subway.
hood which.- is a l s o , the
In his walk he remembers his cteli-
"childhood-1 of-the co n tin e n ta l
conquest
p ro ta g o n is t identifies- w ith Rip V a n : W in k le * who,- becomes the gosrdian
an gel o f the jo u rn ey into, the paste
Macadam-,,gun-gray as-the tu n n y ’ s b e l t *
Leap s from F a r Rockaway to Goldem Grata«
L i s t e n ! the m iles' a hurdy-gurdy g r in d s —
Down gol'd a rp e g g io s m ile on mile- u n w in d s .
Times e a r l i e r , when you hurried' o f f to sc ho o l,
— I t is the same hour through a l a t e r day- —
You w alked w i t h Pizarro^ in a copyboo'kr*
And Cortes- rode up,, r e in in g tau n tly inn —
Macadam, gun-gray as the tu n n y 's b e l t *
Leaps from F a r Rockaway to G olden G a te .,...
Keep ho ld o f that n ic k e l fo r car-change* R i p ,—
Have you got your paper
And hurry a lo n g * Vara? W inkle — i t ’ s g e t t i n g latell
In t!jhe R i v e r " the subway is a f i g u r a t i v e * p s y c h o lo g ic a l
v e h ic le ' fd'r t r a n s p o r t in g the reader- to the M iddle W e s t .
vagance o f the f i r s t
The extra­
twenty—three:-l i n e s o f th is s e c t io n is a n irs-
t e n t io n a l b urlesq u e on the c u ltu r a l c o n fu s io n of
the p re sen t,
great ag lo m e ratio n o f n o ise s analogous to the s t r id e n t
o f a fasl: express ru s h in g b y . The rhythm is
a.
impression,
ja zz:
S t i c k your patent name on a signboard
b r o t h e r — a l l over — going west — young man
Tintex- — Japala-c — C e rta in — teed’ O v e r a lls ads
and lan ds sa k e s l under the new p l a y b i l l rip ped
i n the garanteed c o r n e r — see Bart W illia m s what?
M in s t r e l s when- you st e a l a chicken- ju st
save me the w in g, fo r i f it i s n " t
E r ie it a i n ’ t f o r m iles around a
M azda — and the te leg ra p h ic n ig h t coming on Thomas
a E d ifo r a — and w h is t l in g down the tracks
a h e a d lig h t ru sh in g w ith the sound — can you
imagine — w h ile an EXPRESS makes time likeSCIENCE -COMMERCE and the HOLYGHOST
RADIO ROARS IN EVERY HOME WE HAVE THE NORTH. POLE
WALL STREET AND VIRG INBIRTH- WITHOUT STOMES OR
and no more sermons windows f l a s h i n g roar
Breadth ta k in g — as you l ik e - i t ...» eh?‘
So the 20th Century - so
w h iz z e d the lim ited ' — ro ared by and l e f t
three m e n ,s t i l l hungry on the tr a c k s ,.p lo d d in g ly
w a tc h in g the t a i l l i g h t s w iz e n and converg|g
s l i p p i n g 'g i m l e t e d and n e a t l y out o f s ig h t *
N o is e r p o l l u t ion,, impo sing-
architecture-,, b u s i n e s s ,a l l ihe
m e r e tr ic io u s and v u l g a r b eauty o f America were important -images
th at Crane u sed .to
show the a w a i t i n g actuality- .which; he f e l t ccuM
be d e s t r u c t iv e and yet r e c r e a t iv e *
Qjrane re p resen ts' a curious’-c o n tr a d ic tio n that we± s h a l l
see repeated! a g a in in S m it h t:s T r in i t y ;
namely a dual loathing- and,
at the same time,, lo-ving o f technology whicha becomes- sim ultaneous­
l y bea u ty and b e a s t * plague and salv atiQ n v O f course- t h is ambi
valence- is not new* Hermit Thoreau was enamored o f the , id ea o f i&e
M odern* Hawthorne c o n sta n tly toyed
The B e a u t i f u l " )
(f o r example in ".The A r t i s t o f
w it h the s p i r i t u a l i z a t i o n o f technology^. Henry'
Adams in The Education! goes so; f a r as to equate m edieval mass re­
lig io u s
sentim ent w it h The Power- o f the
'’dynamo'"* Very traditio n s!
a l l this- ~ — an h i s t o r i c a l l o v e - a f f a ir w ith the b r ig h t Medusa o f
Technology and S;-cience..
B IB L 1 0 GRAPHICAL REFEREIMC3S
“TI
R alph L e s l i e
Ruskr,
The L i f e o f Ral-oh Waldo Emerson. (Colum­
b ia ,. 1 9 5 7 ) f p ~ 4 9 2 .
^R alp h Waldo' Emerson,. "S e lf- R e lia n c e ",, The Complete Essays
and O t h e r W r i t i n g s » Brooks A tk in so n (ed) (Modern L ib r a r y , 1 9 5 0 ) .
P e rr y
^R alph Waldo Emerson^. The Heart o f Em erson,;s J o u m a l s ^ B liss
(ed) (D o v er, 1 9 5 8 )..
^H en ry D av id Thoreau,, W alden and C i v i l D is o b e d ie n c e ^Shgtran
P a u l (e d )
(Houghton,. I9 6 0 ):
5
Edmund F u l l e r et a l.,ed s- „ Adventures in Am erican Literature
(New Yorkr Han co u rt, Brace & Jo vano vichf 1963);,. v .3 * p * I 9 9 ;*
6I b i d »
p»200*
7H enry D a v id Thoreau, " L i f e W ithout P r i n c i p l e ",. Selected;
W r i t i n g on N atu re and L i b e r t y » O s c a r C a r g i l l (ed). ( l i b e r a l Arts,3953)
8 Thoreau,, W alden and C i v i l D is o b e d ie n c e .
9 •
Emerson^
O th e r W r i t i n g s ,.
"The
Transeercfentalist"V
The Complete Essays and
^*% a lt W hitm an,."One 1s S e l f I S i n g " r American L i t e r a t u r e , Ruth
N elson et a l „ ( e d s ) (Kansasr McCormick-ffiathers,. 1 9 6 6 ),. w 2r p . 5.
11
W alt Whitman-,,11-Song of M yself'",
L i t e r a t u r e .. Edmund P u l l e r et a l . (ed s)
& Jo v an o v ic h , 1963)». v..4, p . .133».
Adventures in American
(New Yorkr Harcourrt, Brace
12
W alt W hitm an*"To a Locomotive in
W in t e r "1. The American
T r a d it io n in Literature. ( U .S „ A . r Grosset & Dunlap,. 1 9 7 4 ) ,.v.2,.p,.53^alt
Whitman,. "Manhat t a ",. Adventures in Am erican Literature-».
v»4* p » I3 6 .
14
Hart Crane, "The B r i d g e ", The American T r a d it io n in Liter­
a t u r e ^ (U .S ..A . :• Grosset & D un lap, 1974)-,. v .»2 ,.p p .l23’c*~40.
15Ib id ,
p., 12 4 0
16I b i d » pp .1 2 4 1 - 2 .
The
S rni t h * s
1 o go s ;
lh e
anvil
CHAPTER THREE
THE DEVELOPMENT OP S M IT H ’ S THOUGHT
T h is ch apter is concerned w ith three o f S m it h 's worksr
The -Early Poem s., "The A n t i—C iv il iz a t io n - L e a g u e " .and the writingof-Sm ith as Raphael. T a l l i a f e r r o ..
The y/orks,
a n t e r i o r to T r in i t y ,
Sm ith rem ains b a s i c a l l y u n v a ry in g ,
are c le a r evidences that
unchanging.,. T r in it y represents
the cu lm in a tio n o f a l l themes he ,tr e a t e d e a r l i e r and which: fornr;
part o f h is
3*■!••
c o n s is t e n t e p is te m o lo g ic a l,
so c ia l,, .economic- v i s i o n .
The E a r ly Poems
S m it h ,!s e a r ly poems are an entrance into Smiths's psyche*
a r e v e a l i n g c le a r in g ,. •
r e v e a l i n g in so .f a r as they in d ic a te
themes: and .d ir e c tio n s Sm ith u ses throughout h is p r o fe s s io n a l career.
. Sm ith .represents h im s e l f in" h is ea rly poems as- one o f the
Romantics*
with' a l l that im p lie s?
stress-on in d iv id u a lis m ? as par-*-
tiall a n t ip a t h y towards i n d u s t r i a l i z a t io n ,, se b ia s a g a in s t factories
and time-sche-dries, . a strong f e e l i n g a g ain st the taming o f the
i n d i v i d u a l s Somehow,
in S m it h ’ s mind,
taming means sla v ery and
s la v e ry means fa scism .. As the in d i v id u a l gets tamed he lo ses h is
soulS m i t h 's
W ith the w ise
v is io n ,
e a r ly poems p resent a f e a r o f e c o lo g ic a l d isaster..
innocence o f a B la k e ,
Smith,, in h is own ingenuous
sees e c o l o g ic a l b alan ce threaten ed*
P a ra d o x ica lly ,.. Sm ith s t i l l , remains an e n th u s ia st f o r tha-
m achin er o r b e tte r,, f o r machine power,, l ik e Whitman in> E,To a. Loco^
m otive in W in te r"- W hile at the same time he attack s the fa c t o r y
and "th e m o d e m " he is a t t r a c t e d by them*
In a way t h is
is not a r e a l contradiction:* Apparently this
is a r e l a t i v e l y easy p u zz le to be solved? Sm ith aLf&reHtnates te-irem uhs
machine age as- regim ental io n and the machine age as power fo r the
good o f man* On one hand Sm ith attacks- the neg ativ e a sp ects o f -fee
machine age and,
on the o th e r ,
he g l o r i f i e s
a c c o r d in g to h is p ersonal, v i s i o n ,
the machine w hich oxQd,
be at m an’ s service- i f appropri­
a t e l y used*
E a r l y Sm ith is a dream-oriented: Romantic. Sm ithes ea rly
poems in c lu d e not o n ly poems based on dreams but also poems based
on daydreams,
prem o nitio ns and w aking v i s i o n s .
In "The W il d Ducks"',
f o r in sta n ce ,. Sm ith w r it e s in', a simple
but v iv id ' language about a re cu rren t dreams d e a lin g w it h ducks; he .
h ad had s in c e
c h ild h o o d * In r e a l l i f e
the ducks belonged; to Sm ith ’ s
great u nc le and the p hlo x- lin ed cesspool i n ,t h e poem>was a t S m it h ’ s
childhood home at Bellmore,. Long I s l a n d .
The m o tif o f t h is poem a r i s e s from a r e a l scene ins real
time and develops in the l a s t l i n e
to hypnogogic dream-awake visixi..
In t h is poem-, w r i t t e n in the w in te r o f 1 9 5 6 /5 7 ,
Smith b r in g s
in ins
p erso n a l f e a r .about death w ith o u t . resurrection*
This e a r l y Smith: l i v e s
in a world' o f inmineirfc d i s a s t e r as
he shows- in “ The W il d Ducks"'r
Somewhere on the w ater c ir c le
flashrim m ed w ith purple,, jagged phlox,,
the w il d ducks, st r a in in g ,, swim in th rees
and terror- close the c ir c le downi
Tense glo ssy m allards swimming our
brown p a ir s o f fem ales t r a i l the drakes^
and p u rp le—green,, magenfcish.een.eci,,
the drake i s s t ra in in g ,, centerboneSmith' p re s e n ts a micro:—cosmie- picture- in whicit the c irc le
o f flowers^ j_s a m icro- scale
th is c ir c l e
"emblem*' o f the whole world--* And as
d isap p ears,, the rim (r e a l
''parameter-of the r e a l " )
disapp ears alo n g w it h itr
The w il d ducks close the c ir c le down
and a l l the purple rim is gone
and suddenly a sunken stone
2
c h illb r e a k s the lig h t and w h irls and depths
The w i l d ducks are
sym bolic r e p r e s e n ta tio n o f ecology.
Sm ith h im s e l f i d e n t i f i e s w it h the male duck as is in d i c a t e d in' the
l a s t l i n e s and changes from the t h ir d to the f i r s t persons
Tensing,, sw irlin g ^1' te rro r—'turning,,
the drake has closed the c i r c l e down?
and crossed- the sunken cehterstone •—
my l i f e i s stuck:, my soul: is g o n e.
The m inute th at th ere
is a breakdown*
a?, destru ctio n: ini
the e c o lo g ic a l, c i r c l e which- co n tains the w o rld * Smith; h im s e lf
f e e l s e x i s t e n t i a l i l y threatened.1.
There is., an e s s e n t i a l connection'
betw een s e l f and. w orlds a''closeness", o f S m ith ' s owns nature w ith
external
" r e a l i t y " , which'..reappears again- in T r i n i t y .
S m i t h 's p r a i s e fo r the n a tural is clear-in* m any o f ' M s
o th e r poems... In- 'Unthinking" he attacks garters' and corsets,pointixg
them out as
sig n s o f women"s modern a r t i f i c i a l i t y .
Smith: im p lies
that contemporary c i v i l i z a t i o n ' is
because- women are wearing, " a r t i f i c i a l "
" ‘co a rs e ":
clo thes and sm ellin g
i
unnatural..
perfum es r
Perfum ated primate
c r a c k lin g w i t h e l a s t i c r u b s ;
I,
u n t h in k in g well,, _
yearn1 f o r hardier., smells:
^
andi s ilk e n ; le a p s o f le o p a rd s
Ten years a f t e r t h is poem was w r it t e n
ural
(1 9 5 4 /5 ),
"th e
'n a t ­
' a n t i —g a r t e r a p p ro a c h "’ turned to be f a s h i o n a b l e . But Smith's
poenr is p art o f - h l s Ku n t h i n k i n g ",
a n t i —city,, a n t i - a r t i f i c i a l i t y ,,
anti-machine*, a n t i —r a t i o n a l i t y s t a n c e . E p is t e m o l o g ic a l l y speak­
in g he i s
in t e r e s t e d
in becom ing one w ith nature,, ec h o in g the tra­
d i t i o n a l Romantic Liebsta>5.
In
i n_to- The A l l /o v e r s o u l .
" I c e S o n g ": Smith preaches a c y c lic end o f h is t o r y in
which c i v i l i z a t i o n is g o in g to-, end and cavemen h u n tin g d e er
going to re turnr
Sky stabs,, ic e c l i f f s where the- moon: creeps*
are.
And b l i n d i n g g u l f s are echo fearO f dawn men h u n t in g s t r a in i n g dee-r —
The arrowed: d e er w i l l race again,.
And t o r c h lig h t c r ie s w i l l soar ic e c le a r s
WeepJ! Time and c r y sta l stars- are here;
For hunting- songs and world; throbs-.
Here, he-preaches a complete return to the p r im itiv e witlm
no e l e c t r i c i t y ,, no m achines but w i t h n a tu r a l power- an d n a t i v i s t i c y
raw,
p r im it iv e
" i n s t i n c t 11*
The e a r ly S m it h 'h a s a Romantic- v i s i o n o f the p r i m i t i v e .l t
is t h is v i s i o n th at w i l l
induce him to* l a t e r on w rite "The A n ti -
C i v i l i z a t i o n l e a g u e Sl and "The Savage M a n if e s t o "’»
However,, l i k e
in Trinity-» S m it h 's d u a l i t y towards the big-
c i t y is marked by c o n t r a s t in g poems such as- "New York N i g h t f a l l " 1
and "S p e c t o w n "„
. .
In "New York' N i g h t f a l l 1" S m ith "s Whitmanesque p ra is e forM anhattan comes on chillingly cle a rs Wet and rough» l i k e mountain' rock,,
a c h i l l day f a d e s *
No pale^ s o f t n e s s comes- to the river-,,
nor: t w ilig h t to adorn- the granite- ranges-,
low planes hunr through, the evening,,
p a s s in g shadows m erging into: cloud,,
sm all jewels- f o r a moment f l a s h i n g .
F reig h t t r a in s th ud d in g c r e a k in g
s h r i l l y brake and start?
t h e i r smoke w a fts f l a t l y w ithout r i s i n g :
t h e i r keen w h is t l e s smite dense a i r .
H a i l i n g tugboats,, creep in g o ther ways,.
w a il l i k e p a i n e d and s t r a in in g b e a s t s r
p u l l i n g w it h g ig n t chains a g a in st the s il e n t b a r g e s ,
I want to pray..
As in the case o f Whitman*
the fascination*
the c it y holds
for Smith made him-write- b e a u t i f u l v erses to New Yo rk,
the c ity
he was r a i s e d i n and where he- s t i l l p re c a r io u sly manages to- m a in tain
h is
'"calm** suburban l i f e *
However,. Smith: combats a g a in st what he considers- the e v il
o f o v e rc r o w d in g . One o f h is f i r s t attempts- at s o c ia l l y - s ig n ific a n t
poetry waB h is poenr •'Spectown^whiclr was writtem in 196®»
Spectown' i s Sbuthbridge*. liiassschusseis*. "owne®" ini tiros®
days by Ateericaxzi Optical- Tjheree,. like: in T r in it y 's Hew York,.Sinit&
sees workers as cogs in the. machines
The Southibridge boosters speak of Spectown^, •
lens capital' of the cosmos*
hustling hub o f sceni© Central Mass.*
and the people of the greengrass
who have gjbund eighteen b illio n lenses
union free?
This .splendid clean? and gleaming God&own*
lens capital o f the cosmos*
,
can boast more skillecB labozr than« Duluthi-£t,Js garanteedi go Idaho ne truth
c e rtifie d by GoafC ET Mi
^
uhion free:
MELODIOUS MACHINES
MURMUR IN MY BREAMS:
MACHINES; MACHINES.
& YELLOW. “STREAMS^
MURMURING MACHINES;
MURDER IN MY DREAMS'7
Ultimately Smith understands labor unions as workers grouped
and controlled by the mass-will. This hurts h is principles of in­
dividualism' and, because of that,, he is against in d u s t r ia liza t io n
Industrialization is the evil., that brings about factories, organized:
labor .and labor, unions. Men can., np longer be individuals»
In another poem,. "The Coming"', writtem in. 1961* Smith
*
clearly describes in d u s tria l man as a machine-tenders
Thick a ir is ambient with yellow rare
In afternoons o f men who tend manMnes?
Like eyes: of cougars corneared! in dank: lairs*
It is a furtive; stillness, an unseen"
Tensing of strength to be unbare®.
What, power lurks .in mystery of air?«
What fearsome truth to be unbared?
Again Smith brings in one of his poems the apocalyptic'
future o f his world in imminent disaster.. The stillness iari the
a i r is a warning^of approaching danger. The a ir inversion, the in-
c'y
version, the industrial pollution are signs of ecological chaos,
^
In this scenery Smith describes religious revivalists fill­
ing the Yankee .Stadium as i f they were cheering ;and screaming
im
a f o o t b a l l games
M a gigantic bibleballparlfe where
Gultists stare, singing shivers; into screams.
The citydwèllers shum their thoroughfares
And know pure- hate and“ f ear a s 'i n a dream
O f unknown hunting unprepared
What coming moves mystery of aiz*2’ g
What fearsome truth to be unbared?
Sm ith's apocaliptic feelings is always^ an indirect result
of a mental process that organized send decode® the evidence
p f
h is perceptions ins a xïity .l i f e * Added to this are his silent fears
of ecological and human disasters and his longing for thé used-tobe New York..
. r.
It is interesting to observe that in the Smithian psyche*
below the layeir of optimism and romanticism^ there is
a
. layer o f
existential anguish*
The anguished Sm ith's defense mechanism is to œreat©
œ
series of projections and faces, attitudes and theatrical poses
which;- try to balance^ out his deep hearted- existential fear.
Often there is a certain morbidity,, a longing for death)
±1
Sm ith's poems* The idea of death* sleep* aliénation^ non—thinking
ate? œlways escapes firm conflict* In "Homecoming" he writess
I want a rains cent woman* straight and fair*
With silence fragrant in her damp blown hair*
Whose knowing breasts w ill be my home to ^gep
When only tears w ill lu ll me to my sleep.
Paradoxically,
combined with this longing for absence,, the re
is a wish for epic action.. In "Sleeptraini Q u a t r a in s *w r it t e n ) im
1 9 6 Ir this is clears
Awake I am a common smiths
Asleep I am a megalith,
To whonr. nude* Druid maidens: spray
At green awakening of day.
Alone;; amid the desperate flowers*
3T. fought the army/of the hours?
They writhe® & weptr but I
Defied'Tim ers demom b u tte rflie s.
Dreaming Smith is the Romantic?hero* ama&&. he isr ane o f
the millions o f ^inhabitants o f New York,, like John Hamilton« I n Tri­
nity ;; dreaming he is an epic heixr while awake he is more o f a bee
±n the bee^-hives
In a dream I was the morning*
IT wore a saffrom cloak»
I was beautiful* I was free~^ —
When morning came I broieecw
3-2«. "The Ant±—Ci v iliz a t io n League"
In his 1968 e s s a y -- which turned1; out to be a manifesto - •'The Anti—C iv iliz a tio n League'",. Smith suggests; a return to Ovid*s
Grblden A5ge^ a time when there; was no restriction of' laws and mem
were free: from coercion*,
liv in g ,
in "iiatural rightneousness'"»
Thus* I* The Smith* have returned1 from a w ild
northern island, and ins this madness, I am creating
a movement called the Anti—C iv ilizatio n League.^3
As Smith says the essay was inspirecf tgr two (unidentified)
articles in Natural History Magazine» The fir s t one was
on the Neanderthal man and the other
o f
a study
overpopulations and the
coming famineSmith, haunted] by the ghost of Maithus* worries about the
theory the English economist had set forth at the end of the 1.8th
century,, that while world food* supplies increase by arithmetical
progression,, populations increases: by geometric: progression^ and
t h a t the day is certain: to arriv e when the world population’ w ill
exceed its capacity to feed its e lf* Hte quotes from Natural EBtstorry
Magazine s
Massive food-populatio» gap-..- world population)
growing at a rate of nearly 2 per cent a y ear/
Time required for population to double 20 to 30
years in underdeveloped countries/Developed; courtii»
5© to 120 years —
one o f the faste st,,. 63 jaars
....JBoubling Times
The world today is over-pop—
u l a t e d ..... Bew people face the hard cold facts
We are rapidS$r destroying our planet as ajiabitafb.
for homo sapiens»3-4
The solution Smith proposes is a rather anarclto-Bomantiiir
one* the Anti-Civiliaaction League.. He desires to somehow go hacdfe
to: early primitivism^. to a Somewhere Over the Hainbow, neve ar,'-neveer
land* (stateI); o f The N atural/ Primitive.
Between the time of the w riting of *!3heB Aati-Givilizatiom
League*" and Trinity, Smith, evolved tremendously« but
:the::same
time,, the general truth of both pieces is essentially the_ same. Im
the* former wo rife he simply preaches the supreme^ order of the past
over the present* he proposes a return to earlier times in a conpplete discrediting of homo^ rationalis. while in the latter the
;
same motif is s t i l l present but' m o d ifie d
, In T r in ity
Smiths evolved? to an acceptance of the Faustian' fulfillm ents mam
s h a ll, commands the elements; for goods and evil, man sh all be the
incarnation of the s c ie n tific spirit, which is how he fin ish e s
Trinity?
Efe commanded^ the elements:«
Of the numbers- of shad; and men*
at law and banking .‘and the suns,
I sing w ild raspberries and world trade».
In '"T h e Ant i- C ivilization"’ Smith does not accept the fact
that men themselves have at hand the means of avoiding starvations
He does not allude^ to the fact that i f what men already know were
simply, applied to a ll the agricultural land of the world, send the
problem- o f proper distribution were solved, the world; could feed
its e lf*
.
In his manifesto Smith dees not mention* what he poetically
points out in Trin ity g plants and animal under adverse: conditions
reproduce frantically in order that some species may survive^ noar
does he mention^ that, as diet and living' standards^ move upward^
the increases in population! coining from lower economic; levels. teriB
' /
•
t o sta b ilize themselves- somewhere? withim, the limits= of potential
food supplies* i*e*. the1pooorear the diet and the liv in g conditions*
the fas tear the population« tends- to breedfc.
u'?i‘
'
*
Here before descending tp_ the realm of hard rock solution
Smith: allows himself the vagiiries ocf pure speculations* Hie totally
ignores the argument'that it is not impossible that, once mem,be­
gin! to feed the world properly, particularly the more starved areas,
the population problenr in relation to the food supply tend to ©ra­
re ct it s e lf*
Jn a sim plistic v isio n of Marxism^ Smith reduces this so­
cialist doctrine to a mere distribution; of the same amount of foods
The revolution is beyond Marxism* for it i s not
motivated by need for daily bred)* TAKE A l l THE:
OUTPOURINGS OP THE MONSTROUS CORNUOQPIA & DISTRIB­
UTE THEM EQUALLY AND MEET WILL STILL: BE HUNGRY*1&
Marxist equaLLtsori.anian should Slso include "the gBraaitesd
miniraums o f money & v ita l services and equality of opportunity"
Smith is claiming
i m
his essay. What Marxists ,csannot suppress
is^ the reality of technology^ which* along with the Industrial Be—
volution,
gave rise to Karl Marx's theories» And Smith in this
essay points out that technology might be the great dangerr
Then might dynasties of Lord' Techniks rule* ruled
by the inertia of their- industries un til the vsofLd
is smothered in shit? W ill only virus life remain?17
As a representative of contemporary American thought Smith
loses his b e lie f in homo
rational is* He no longer believes mam
has control oif his environment* He fears the srteriile: dead^end
intellectualism of science and technology*
Shall every civilizatio n end insane?r I sat dowm
to write a carefully reasoned essay* but perhaps
I no longer believe in human1 reason*
Perhaps the fact that Smith lives in New Yorlr is a contrib­
utory cause to h is ultimate cynicism.. New York: more than any other
place in the United Sitates represents the apotheosis of the pro- —
blems of contemporary tecl^aology facing an urban environment.. A s
he say&s
.....8*00:© garbage men are growling beneath my win­
dow as they mob New Yorkr's City Halil. HERRRRRRRRRR
now they mightj^r howl for money.
The representation of this- howling sound — URRRRRRRRRR —
is fam iliar in Smithes texts.. It also appears in Trinity. It i©
the cry of the so-called ratio rial man returning back to caveman'
h ab its
which Smith both .rationally abhors and emotionally
agrees with-
^
Smith points that the entire urban system has been cor —
rupted in New Yorkrr
The longshoremen have already gone on strike.Mo­
mentary peace has come to schools? with more tharn
2*000 policemen to muscle them in* the union
teachers have returned to Brownsville as an army
o f occupations: the principle of community decision
has been successfully defeated) by the teachers
and the board of education bureaucracy.1Even the
policemen and firemen are threatening to strike*
but 1 am cheered by the thought of the radios tevee
writers^ also s tr ik in g .2®'
For him New York: is the microcosm;.. , representing the entire
macrocosm.
New York's problems are the; same as
center's.
,
any industrial
■
Smith never relents once he is ©n» the trail of a problem.
What he has tried to do is to deal with his real environment? he
is not an escapist.
Technology, business,
ecological unbalance, war, atomic
waste, pollution, p o litic al repression* they are a ll everyday
issues. And Smith deals with them all.?
Ytetoanp-surban putrefaction-insane? thingfulness—
The Bombs - Presidential elections mocking the
w ill of the people
The production societies
run like spastic* giants*. The control centers do
not function-:Unmonitered,. uncordinatedrtechno —
cracy blunders onward* blind to ultimate environ­
mental! and spiritual consequences. This acquisitive;
sickness »„» 231
'Vi*'
-
^
~
Smith does not think that industries — a necessary evil of
the 2GCth century .— can have an effective ecological control, pri­
marily because of industrial economics.. He quotes Natural History
Magaziner
The W«r- on Hunger Conference was started with?
a
filmed Esso commercial promoting the use of ioril,
Asphalt arid pesticides for shortrange productivity
gains with no consideration of longterm environ —
mental consequences,.,.» poisoning orf the sea* the
a i r and the soil».,»chronic-poisoning of people»»,
the reduction of photosynthesis on lancfe and; ii 1te
sea leading to; as serious reduction in the oxygen
in our atmosphere » » » the possibly' fa t a l interrup­
tion of delicately balancedfecological
c y c le s ...
unplanned acts despoiling our environments,*,. A mi
insane; preoxrupation with an ever growing gross; ra­
tio n a l product could lead in the riot—toovdistant
future to no national product^2-“
This ecological—industrial impass, though,. isn*t "acci
—
dental," but embedded in the fib er of human psychology/. We are — —
in Smith"s v i e w -- witnessing the unfolding <fc£ipsychoc-genetic
inevitability-.. C iv iliza tio n produces frustration? frustration spurs
on.technology» The Stimulus (the civilized),- — feedback (the ecol­
ogically unbalanced)' circle is inherent im ‘"progress"»
Thauglb he stresses he iaoiot .a Preudiam, Smith affirms
that the famous psychoanalist was not a scientist but a prophet
when.he^said things such ass^. Civilization' is neurosis; of a progressively- moret
severe order»
Grt
p4
C iv ilizatio n is founded on repression. Smith agrees with Freud's ideas^ about civ ilizatio n though:
his worries are based on more economic rather than psychological
reasonings
I see what hag been repressed* or supreatretE o r uns a tisfie d seething underneath, breaking out at
many pointB,. as i f the beginning of our age o f
great volcanic^ activity.. Sexually and in the
values o f work,, production fficsocial g o a ls .« t h e
forces of upheaval... The institutions, even the
very systems _of government, no longer adequate lyr
serve,, the purposes originally intendeds nor charge
fast enough to f u l f i l l our needs.. No longer does
thevindustrial civilization' provide sufficient
sta bility , security* predictability, 'environments,
control and planning — abovee all,. purpose. As
liv es become more crowded and more corporately
organized, as work itseltF becomes less b asic and
more specialized, fewer & feweir b a sic human wishes
are answerecf»^
/
;
As in Trinity.
"l!he Ahtk-Givilization'League"' presents;
hints of cabalism*
Yet perhaps the horses of destruction can be harnessedi. (Ebond & evil are inseparable in lifercrea—
tion arid destruction^ rise from' the same s o u r c e s .^
At UAs point Sinith apprcraches even closer to Trinity.Good;
and evil coexist.. M f e . is a force which is constantly making ex­
periments with? gotrd andi evil in order to; re-organize i t s e l f .
Although Smith"s "The Anti—Civilization League" seems so
’‘crude?” h is worries about a new dark age might contain a b it of
this truth in theme
There might be a new dark age o f anarchy,, and them
at least the humani race would liv e .^ 5
"The Anti- Civilization League"’ is a rehearsal, of Trinity*a
ideas. Trinity is a poetic re-saying o f "The Anti-Civilization
League"
3-3-
ideas in a more complete hardno sect, down to earth.,way.
Smith’ s Work under- the rseuxfonyro Haiphael Talliaferro
Smith disclaims any influence from Hart Crane in T rin ity
though he admits his own identification with Crane's lonely daring
in taking the epic risks* attempting, as in The, Brid g e.a synthesizing
definite statement on twentieth—centurjp American civilizations
..However*amder the pseudonym o f Raphael Talliaferxro„Smith
wrote a poem,"The Bridge of E± re% confessedly dedicated! to Jfert
Cjcane? and also> named after Crane 's compelling poemr.
*
♦
White bridge o f fire?
Vv
Cathedral-window portals to the stars
s stones winged by sailing harp» —
v
Whelming into s o n g -- ®eole Eliohin!
Cathay 1 Atlantis!' Troy! Manhattan!'
28
Raphael. Talliaferro is. strongly influenced by Crane* ffle
id en tifie s with The Bridge,,:the symbol, of technological spiritual­
izations Barlfc poet
O f ship lights on blacltr ocean:
I also ahvil on The Bridge
perilous of fire
the wondrous forge
in pale suspension over tides
^
— the windswept altar onto night
Barry is The Smith who is going to anvil on the bridge*.
"the windswept a lta r onto night."’ The only thing is that The Smith
is here? hidden behind Talliaferro^ one of his splinter-selves.
’t
Smith is a technolagical hater*. Talliaferro is pro-ma chime.
Smith is pastoral*. Talliaferron urban. Smith is closer to Emerson^
Talliaferro closer to Crane.It is difficu lt at this point u n til
further evidence- is in,, to distinguish! between Adam:' Dunne and Ra­
phael Talliaferrov Gould it be that all of Smith's masked nocturnal
:.(JD) ~selves ’are the -exact opposite of his daytime "Smithness"?
These various faces of Smith are present in Trinity. There
is a face of Smith which is anti-mate rial ismy mainly at the begin­
ning of Trinity. Towards it s end* another part of Smith is presented-.
It is one that launches it s e lf towards materialism and matter as
an answer. In fact this ambivalence is carried: throughout Trinity.
On one han($ we have anti-materialistic pastoral remembrances.Oh'
the other*. we. have materialism, Manhattan as the take-out point
to the stars» It is a confrontation between past and present, dreaun
and rea lity * .
.,
~ ' v.l
‘
TalDiaf erro^ celebrates his bridge^ lik e Crane somewhat ce­
lebrated M
b ,,
as a beautiful symbol of man’ s ability,, through ':
technology, to overcome the inadequacies and the fragm entation
V
0 dark companion,
~1’
returning to death again!
Blind poets & crippled engineers!
HomerJi Milton!! Hephaestus! Roeblingi
Odysseys! Argonauts!' Sky aspiringfc!
Again,7 Hbv Gochiat Jason! Htesting harps!
Wings-!, Aeolian string» eoning
Up the long processional a is le of lamps:
To the white a l t a r , tesrrible of stars!'
Again* the anvil rings! The epic cry!’
A tlantics! Brooklyn! T h e Bridge? of Fir© *».
In fin ite consaguinity-we bear.
Ws liv e the longitude of beauty spanned*
Ma® is metaphor*^
~'
*Sky a s p ir in g s '! Man? want® to reach higher and highervThe
plane becomes a religious vehicle for a visionary encounter withe
Gbcf,, the same proposed^ in. Trinity?
What is all* this?
mam thought
what is a l l this
to? the stars 31
•H
This is an allusjfom to the enormity of humanity"s journey
o f which the space technology is » d i z z y i n g proeess that is..very
imperfectly* understood by Mam.
~Mam is — the metaphor4*1. Man be<K>mes like God through the
extension' of knowledge, according to> The Booit of Genesis.
Smith might present M m se lf as a rustic Thoreau.
most
o f the time but that is only part of the total Hkrry. He i s frag­
mented. Obviously,
in the heart of all his splintered game-playing
selves,, there is a well-integrated? self that drinks in the world
around hinr and
sweats
" it out poetry/.
BXB1II0 GRAPHICAL REFERENCES:
^ Hkrry Smith, *'The W ild Ducks %
Ghost Dance*, 1978))* p-9..
2
The Early Po ems (ffilcftriigan
3Tbidem.
^ Ibidenrw
^Harry Smithy. ••Unthinking"'* The EarXv? Poems., p-2^Sfeerry Smithy "Ice Song"'* The Early Poems*. p . 4*
^feferry Smithy "New York N ightfall"* The Early Poems?«, p .1 3 .
7Harry Smith* "SpectownP1* The Early Poems- p *22.
Q
Harry Smithy '"The C o m i n g * The Earlyr Poems.. p-27-
q
m
Ibidem.
Harry Smithy "Homecoming*"' The Early Poems> p . 5Ttfa-r-ry Smithy "Sleeptrain Quatrains*"' The Early Po«ms>
p- 29i-
12
Ibidem-
^ Harry Smith* "The Anti—C iv ilization League* * The Smith»
10 (Nov-* 11968))* p- 7 .
^
Ibid* p-4.
^
Hkrry Smiths* T rin ity (New Yorkr Hbrizoip Press* 1975))*
p-6116'
Harry Smith* "The Anti—Civilization? League", pp-
17 I b i d , p . 718
_
Ib id * p-5-
39
19
Ibidem
20
Ibidemu
x ":
21 ibidem..
22 !£££-» P- 4«.
2 ^ Sigmund F reu d *"C iv ilizatio n and its; Discontent©",
Anti—Givilizatiojai lueague"* The Smitfew. 10? (Nov* 196&)i* p . 5*
IbidL p* 6«
2^ Harry Smith,, "The Anti-Civilization League", p . 6*
. 26
3Tbid«, p* 7»
' ' '
2^ Ib id e m .
pn
H&rry/ Smithy "The Bridge o f Fire %
(New York; Hbriizon Press* 1979)» P* 53»
29
Ibidem-
3° Ebidk p . 54*
^
Harry Smith?* Trinity* p . 31.
Me.. The People
"The-
40
CHAPTER POUR
A CLOSE READING OS- TRINITY
Before going
into' the analysis of the text o f Trinity1
,
the discussion o f its poetic* symbolism^ we .shalJL b riefly comment
oai
its
form and the techniques Sjjjith" used in writing1 it*
s o
that Trinity^'s content can' Ire better understood»
Trinity was written ins 1975* formwise, as Smith points ait,
it is "symphonic^,. The themes are introduced^ abandoned;
an<£ re­
introduced w ith variations and elaborations* In reference to Tri­
n i t y ’ s basic organizing principle Smith himself wrote*
: /
T r in it y is perhaps most akiii to Balrtok* especially
in the accommodation of dissonance*^
In fact Smith mantaining a couple cE dissonance-consonance
counterpoint pits pastoral against industrial* natural against
urban, , traditional against modem*.
but a ll ±m a>. balance re —
vealing way..
Two' earlier narratives by Smithy
"Stones" and "West Bat—
$
tery" are characterized by somewhat similar symphonic approaches.
The former, by the way, is set at St.. Paul.*s Chapel* the
oldest colonial building in Manhattan and a part of Trinity/ Paar*.
ishy only a few blocks uptown fronr Trinity Churchs
Wall Street &c its streets are w alled.
The only open bits: are the graveyards.
Of old churches.
.
.
— S t . Pau31"s ^
Trinity is an epic narrative but' it d iffers £rm traditional
epic poetry, whichi is metrical
and
tends towards symmetry b y u>-
n its* uniformity o f lin e* stanza .and stanzaitr groupings. Trinity
is multiform^ only
partially metrical, and relies on -^symmetry*
Its multiformness is a larger synthesis o f prose and. poetry,ran*»-
, MO-A f HlldT l\ dhd?& 4 <* CiCu-C^
I
CtL ^
*¥ &
61
h J ^ o u
4vC rv
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Qs\t^jby4~4L*JUi
a - c ^v ^s fe ^)
M V & J
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lu z o c u A ^ i
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l< U u ^ 4
A + xM ^
U ^&c t
W &4
^
by
j
>44
S ^ iA e ^ U ^
4 2 ^ \ ^ 6 l 0 v u v v \ fa/O fa l$
^- ^4 /^ c jJ ^
^ 3 !2 j ? ,
<^ld, J 2 * j U ^
W c&
m
U e'
Qo M A JL
K<*/W A^
0 //$ -
u~
!> m m f t A u k j i ■
Cfri*cJ2-£-v-e~e&
C ^M d U v
^
’ft*.
W $0
j
llU iA
u d u d & S
Y l~ t 'K i iiy
W
^
O 0 U *U M r i'
t^6«A
^
^
4]-t& ta * M ( u m U m ,) fa
S t o i W s repply to my comments; on "The Anti- Civilizatio m League*
and the end o f Trinity«.
el and epic?,, epic* and ly r ic * About this Smith wrote;
t
.
*
Trinity is epic?,, fusing prose and poetry* I think
a£ i t as a poetry, hut .it might as accurately be
callë'd a novel'ttyat got loose* 3
'
'
Regarding thé visual p o ssib ilitie s, Smith learned most
about technique from
e* e.cummingsr whose work» he readi avidly
while: a student at Brown University* In important passage®* T r i ­
nity has a sp atial design o f words- whidfc is paycologically inn —
portant to what is .b e in g described*
Various techniques used in Trinityr
weare fir s t used by
Smith in parts of. " Gawa ine ®reene, "an unfinished^ novel whichi had
a section published in the anthology X-1» Actual patterns ofper—
ceptions and verbal content o f consciousness were some of
th e
techniques- used in'Kfewaine Greene"’ which were extended to Trini­
ty s
THE UNIVERSE IS NOT FOR SALE
; a way of reminding himself of the pettiness of
such matters, he theorized». Buying fifc selling ;
Buying fit selling should be relatively? unimportant
in a l i f e » — Yes,. The Joys o f Life NOT EOR SALE;
"'The best things are free;» " he sang in his nrind*
s Monetary success^ is no true; measure of a mam»
Money should be only æ means towardv reasonable ends.
moongo We moongo
pushed to- St fro
to & fro
-pulled
pulled
&
pushed 6c-worn pushed &: pulled fit worn)
by motions before us fis-beyond us, Inevitable as
moampul1
Inevitable
moxmpull
the wear of spaceforce
Down Down
weight & time
flesh stress virus mould
old & old
Nitrorcarbo;
—hydro
la la la
Lavoris far the Clitoris
Keeps you kissing sweet
l a la I a 4
Objective description' alternates with streams, of conscious­
ness the patterns of perception^ and thought rendered by psycho!lorgicallyrappropriate^ spatial—positioning,,
pro
jective—bits*coir —
responding to the discordant barrage'of sensory data,, including'
signs,, shouts,, g r a ffit i* etc..
Thus Trin ity contains elements o*£ concrete' poetry,, as
materials- for the larger structure* nort as an end im itself..
41«.!«.
Textual Explications
Trinity^s drama unfolds on Hkrdhat Bayy May 8thy 1970*
when workers from the World Trade Center attacked; a peace marchi
im downtown Manhattan.
The first movement* "Order for B u r ia l ," occurs as histomc
Trinity Church, at Wall Street and, Broadway, becomes a besieged
Red Cross station far the wounded*.
The second movement,
"The Growth of the World Center*''is
a summations oif modern l if e * a direadful perspective* on humam trans­
formation!.
The third'movement,
1'ife.y of the Earthy? brinigs to; l if e
both the early history and the natural splendor of Manhattan and
the w istfu l pageantry of the Earth Day celebration) on I4tlfe Street.
The three movements are linkecB together byr the protagonist.
Jbhn Hamilton* an epic hero: whoy, like the classical, epics heroes*
is the embodiment
o f humanistic values* His personal struggle
is the colossal agony of modern mane humani versus
mercantile values*
*
and,
...
commarcial*
.
In the fir s t movement* Jiohn Hamilton! witnesses: the rio^t
in the confusion,is beaten by the workers*. He envisions? the-
completed towers of-the World Trade Center and thinks of the urea-
43
te ria listic l ife it represents*
The second movement also
occurs on May 8th,. 1970y as
Hamilton, dazed, wanders arouncf the cityr.
The third movement begins- within the same time frame^as
Hkmilton continues to walk around. Hamilton"s thoughts revert to
the First Annual. Earthday, an observance whicifc had oeeuxred the
preceding month,. April,. 1970'*!Jihis extended flashback finishes by
the end of the book where the time circles back toe Hardhat Day a—
g a in .
Actually Smith himself was a witness to the Hardhat Day
march.. A friendi of his (at his side); disappeared!* ^Later omt SfiiLtla
learned) his friend had wandered the cityr ini shock. Thus Trinity
is "fac t % "although.' individual, characters; are; fictional*
This mualb is certain that Trinity^ reflects the major issues;
of the American 70$ss
the Kent Stqt® massacre^ the invasion
ojT
Gambodia„ young people's- protest movements* . the rise of ^tecfo —
noUcDgy* . ecological concern^ besides the mentioned attack: on peace?
marchers.
4 .1 * 1
First Movements: "Order for Burialni
The titles
of Trinity"s fir s t movement is similar to the
title oaf T*S* E lio t "s first section erf "'The Waste Land"',."The Bur>i a l .o f the Dead"'. As a matter of fact,. "The BUrial of The Dead"
is also> the Anglican burial service and it sets the tone of botha
poems and signals the reader to; prepare for a recitation! of grief:
and lamentation*
The fir s t part of Trinity? resembles the same them® used!
in the fir s t part of Eliot "fit "The Waste Land"1*., E l io t ' s poem iff .
ai} attaclfe. on Western G ivilizatiom which seemedB hopelessly bank­
rupt in .the early, twenties* Eliot starts, ij.is poem by ta lk in g
libou^hBaq^" dnd "desire."'» . ’^femosy"suggests pastt "desire?. asso ciated
with memory, suggests a return.o f the paste ,
■
’
•*’
v
/
v-
;
Ii '
.
April is "the; cruelest month,.breeding
...
...»
.
^
‘7 '■ )
-
/
' Q t ä c £U ^
*
1-i-i... >. ■L-
'•£•£ h<-A.h.eS o] tj * fyqj >j/s .
•
I I I .B .l .
—
. ,
F i r s t Movement:: O r d e r f o r B u r ia l
v
-
tK
The t i t l e of. T R I N I T Y ’ S f i r s t movement i s
v- nr
••••r••'
N..
.,
. ...
7
to
s im ila r
t h e .,t i t l e o f T . S . E l i o t ’ s.- f i r s t ,s e c t i o n o f _ flThe Waste L a n d •• f Ihe Burial
1$7~" of^'the Dead*
As a m a t t e r ro f fact.f^The B u r ia l- o f the D ead''i s
fi:-’ .■
■■
• '
■
.v
• -------- ■
--.
t i t l e o f the A n g l i c a n b u r i a l s e r v ic e and it se t3 the tone o f
■ -;.h p o-Jen
s and s i g n a l s
,■ ' ' ' ■ ■ ■ ■
J'-isfirt'. f>
the re a d e r to prepare
also
the
both
f o r a r e c i t a t i o n o f g r i e f ard
.
-•
’
la m en tatio n .'
■
i'. , »
-
:
The f i r s t part o f TR IN IT Y resem bles the
; !.v f ■
s'V
■
same
theme
£ ‘ ‘ u s e d i n the f i r s t part o f E l i o t * s "The Waste L a n d ” . E l i o t 's poem is
jiff- i.k
; n o 2Vdoubt an a t t a c k to W estern C i v i l i z a t i o n w hich seemed h o p e l e s s l y
:r,.
r/';i;‘-';54;''bank.rupt. i n th e .e a r l y t w e n t ie s . He s t a r t s h i s poem by t a l k i n g abou t
memory and d e s i r e . Memory su g g ests past;- d e s i r e ,
A:-rf ~•'
; ■
, ''
||V ‘,^ ;o r y ,' su gg ests a^
what is a lre a d y gonej...
h 'f:
M & a
j.;'" i'1."'
A p r il is
L ilacs o
Memory av
D u ll rooj
W in t e r kj
E a rth in'
A little
•
■
T'i* ■. .
;•
«•
1;
"\r ' ?
„
v~
:
"
._
,
associated
to mem-
The Order for
THE BURIAL
OF THE DEAD
'lc■
'•
/?
HfeLrry Snrith s t a r t s TRIN
i n g o f past f e e l i n g s
in the f lo w e r in g g
/
iM
w
\&
Xv
L o o k through this leaflet as y o u -wait jor the
fcrrice to begin. It will explain the itriice to
you a nd show you hou' to take your part in it.
T h e things that you are to do as a m em ber
The man
O l d gravo f dream
o f fathe?
ex-posed
•
Tit;.-
There
N IT Y ,
is an o b vio u s ana-
"The W aste L a n d "t is an attack»,i
‘i s
' ,v
■US'
as
oj the congregation are printed it: red.
•*-
sp ec ific a lly
related
to the U n ite d S
'
%‘-V_
The o o lem ic t i t l e o f the A n g lic a n b u r ia l s e r v ic e *
44
L ila cs out of 'the dead land, mixing
Memory and desirey. stirring
I>ull too ts with spiring rainu
Winter kept us warnr, covering:
Earth in forgetful snow, feeading
A l it t l e l i f e with dried! tubers*5
*
In the same general tone/ooocP Harry Smith starts- Trinity
with "Order for B u r ia l1" speaking of past feeHings in the flowering
graves«
'
Ago' feelings
déjà déjà
the flowering graves
The man became a bo;y —
Old grave the, new grave *s maw
o f dreams* and the recurring
of father*1s: scattered bones
expose® in an open grave
We begin both poems reaching back; into a common Anglos
European past* "Memory"1here is very' specificallyr the memory of
t h e ; pre—industrial Eurocpe—America before the great Wars:,, befoaree
the horixrrs,. a. bath in the languidness, of "‘civ ilizatio n "1 fflenry
Jlaaea talks about in Beyond the Rinr» the almost ingenuous Europe—
America of the fine and beginning erf the new sifede*
There is a clear analogy
between both poems. Trinity*
like "The Waste Eand!M’r is an attach on Western C iv ilisatio n but
is s p e c ific a lly related- to the United Sitates,. the essence
Occidental .capitalism. Sim ilarly,
o- f
Trinity- is a criticism! of the
capitalistic system*
"Girder for B u rial"1 is a trip backr into lie pest^ a personal
and historical return*
I
m
t h i s '
t r i p
S nr i t h'
r e m e m 'b/e r
his pastoral childhood and the pear orchard his father had planted
before his birth* This pear orchard had previously been) used; as
a theme
i u
published in
"Time in the Fear Orchard",, a four—poenn series
Bte.The Peoulet -
:•
At the ttoig tips
the faint puslb of/yellow—green
soxm to büd & bud to blossomi & smell to fruit
my fa their planted; for,, before^ my? birth?
—
the eighteen trees* tree^-rowecB clbse
yocung ta ll in my childhood^
smaller^ There w ill be ä few pear»"
'
this f a l l , even for a child.
My f a t h e r 'fs orchard has growm old.*^
,”Ordeir for Burial ”, at this point* prepsents a cumulative
sense o f the pastcräl. Woods' such? as 'Jblos sopor* " "white*", "pear orchard,"
"petals*,"' "'chilhooxt1
, ."’ "bough*"' "breeze,,,"' "‘rain*,"' and "fragance"’
formr an; extensive remembered pastoral mosaics
The man remembered a blossom Sunday im the pear
orchard* his young f a ir daughter playing with
petals,, at the place: of his childhoaid. On &
swing, a neighbor boy, shouting high* and daughter
laughing-».. He shook: a bough and made it rain- upom
his daughter as it rained upon his childhood*wham
he had3 la im fu l l afternoons in fragance;. White*
andi the men knew sorrow in passing things: and joy
i n l if e renewing. And in -the passage? of a breeze*
fa llin g blo^ssoms reigned.®
This Eden1also resembles the "rose garden" memory* at the
beginning of "The Waste Bandit.
Summer surprised us,, comings over the Sismbergersee
With a shower of rainjwe stopped in the colonnade*
And went on im sunlight, into the Hof garten^
And drank coffee,, and talked for an hour..
Bim gär keine Bussing stamm* aus Mtauen*echfc deutsch.
And: when we were children,staying at tie arch-duke's*
■My cousin's* he took-me on a sled,
And I was frightened*. He said, Marie, < '
Marie, hold on tight- And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel fr e e . “9
For Smith the personal memory is mixed with) am overview
o f the United States?
" I s n 't the founder of the Marine Corps buried here?"
The man shrugged, turned his palms up. '
46
The question a v is it o r asks the protagonist is not answered?
but it raises the historical, reference tq the Marine Corps whiGfe
gives the . rwadeir a sense- of ressurresrtion o f the dea<&SimilfflEl3r
El*iot*s "The Burial o f the Bead"' also suggests, ressurrecticmi withim
m mythical and r itu a listic b u r ia l. Smith'! also deals *wiibfii ressur — .
rection^. no> matter i f at a personal or at a historical, lev el* burt;
always in the .context o f a collective memory.
; It is the sigm in the churchyard that calls the reader's
attention! to the solemnity of the event of deathr
HOTIGEs
Visitors are, requested to>
respect the? privileges accorded
to therni in 'th e use of the Ghurclb —
yard and to a id the Authorities
i n preserving- the sanctity o f th©i
Graves*
S ittin g on the (ftravestones
is not permittedL
The
last warning suggests: prohibitions It is interesting
to observe^ that this allusion too rules foiLlonw& the first mention®
o€ American History, the Marine Corps* Smith has raised^ tw oideasr
war and .rules* The keystone here is that American History begins
with both war and military order* Sinitlr plays ow the ideas o f
death, war and rules, and tangles them in oner the American)
consciousness begins in the war*, in a systems of .rules and pro —
hibitiont
**
Throughout Trinity's first movement we are in the presence
o f existential nothingness, a sense- of in fin ity and deaths
recurrent themes in Smithes The Early Poems r
Bright"skull*, startled* Beheld
Doom"s grinning stereotype
eye sockets dark: onto in fin ity
voids between the stars
Shoofc boughs.
White victory? of bones'*
--
W EST
TRINITY PLACE
BROADWAY
east
MAP
OF
TRIN ITY
CHURCHYARD
47
*
EBere: we hav& a subtle? echo'» o# the gravwyarcfc scene in
Hamlet.^ Sinithi hamletinglyr questions the veryr.nature; o f zeit and
'
setnv
- *
''
<
>
Hbwever, Sm ith's expression "the white victory of bones“
■
*
.suggests an overview o f religion^ man trapped in time .against aa
background o f infinity?.
After this allusion to suprsu-mateiriiaaiity of etennity^SnditBc
p i t » mystical, time against mercantile time.-This is the first
diichortgmy in Trinity?? the long view o f man' as domigodi vaarsus the
contracted view of man as animal*
T rin ity 1s prortagonist is settle® within) a religious
q o h '-
t e x t . fiteferiing to him Smith himself would later writes
Hamilton is an Episcopalian? like his forebears an#
evidently a religious man who; would recall these
B iblica l statements im suchi a s it u a t io n ).^
The B ib lica l statements Smith refer»
are mainly takem
from; Psalm 90 which deals with the transiito:r±E^B:a.f man* s i M e .
Smith) plays with Biblical words and mixes, thenn up with contemporary
idiom lik e "THE AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE*' and "0 Statistician** im
order* to suggest the contrast between' the time of The Patriarch!
. . .why may not that be the skull, of a, lawyer*?
Where be his quidits now,, his quillets,, his cases*
his tenures, aand his tricks? why does he suffer this
rude knave now to knock: hinr about the sconce with a
dirty shovel, a n d
w ill not tell hiro of his a c t io »
of battery?’ Huml This fellow be i n 's time a great
buyer of land, with his statures, his recognizances*
h is fines,, h is double vouchers,, his recoveries? is
this the fine of his fines, and the recovery? of his
recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt?
w ill his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases*
and double ones too* than the length of a pair of
indentures? The very conveyances of his land w ill
hardly lie in this box? and must the inheritor have;
no more, ha2 (William Shakespeare* Hamlet. A©t V* sc„l)
48
(part of h is concept o f noble-savage, mythic time) and the time*
of ;the Banker/Entrepeneurr
Y
•
^
-
■
.
*
>
THE AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE:
*
•
sign.. . Sig n s.
Green Greening
gone
■
For a thousand years are but yesterday
and as a watch in the night
Scatterest
and fade away suddenly like the grass
EXCHANGE,
so teach us to number our days»
O STATISTICIAN-114
Smith links the Biblical words about man*s transitoriness
with a sign announcing THE AMERICAN STOCKT EXCHANGE which is lo cated right across Church Street,, opposite-
Trinityr Church. Be
contrasts the shortness of man^s life with the American capitalistic
view which tends to eternalize man through bonds and stocks -through money.. Money becomes infinity and somehow the importance
o f human l i f e is relegated to a secondary plane..
Man,!s vision o f human lif e within the capitalistic system
is short and subordinated to the etem a liza tio n of c ap ital/
money values,. Human l i f e is controlled and numbered by, statistics
which depersonalize men by transforming them in simple numbers.
Men do not live individual lives but are included in &
society o f mass—numbprs. In .t h is society men are identified byr
numbered cards and by how much they’ own in real Estate. They
are included in statistics which evaluate life and death by
numbers. Statistician s are the high priests of a new religion of
systems unrelated to flesh and body.
Smith also contrasts the ecological,
unbalance with the
semiological world of signs. Man invades nature and tries to
control it , he tries to curb i t . This is another basic idea tiirougi.
out Trinity? urban l i f e versus Mature,uncontrolled use of natural
49
sources versus- ecological unbalance.
In another analogs
to H i o t ^ s "The Waste Land1" Smithi
writess
"•.•„th e damnn graves bloomin every spring, w the>
f&t slut s a i d . ^5
Blioi; wrotes
That corpse you planted- last year in your garden*,
Has it begun; to sprout? W ill it bloom: this year'?!^
Manhattan becomes the waste land*. Trinity a
reiteration),
of the theme im. "The Waste Land"'.. The unreal city under the browm
fog o f a winter dawn” i s
replaced
by the frighternngQy zeaL eity
ocf New Yortev "The crowd (which?))^flowed oveir London B±*idgey so)
many,”' is also present in T rin ity *8 Manhattans
Massive complex for dense^-hiva^ honey combe red)
witir costelier commerce* . . . masses^ hiving sky~
wasrd and sky like a soiled sheet.^7
The metropolis, in both cases-,, seeming to somehow surge
beyond time1 into a timelessness- otf conrputarized statistical eter­
n ity^ i a reminded of the ancient facts of Death and RfessurreC'tian.
An important image of Manhattan is given from above Mount
d i v e r t . Manhattan is the background tb the cemetery where the
protagonist of Trinity is placed*
,,
,v '
„ .r'v',
W-hen he was a boqy the man went to Mount Qlivert
with his mother too put flowers ocn his fa th e rs ;
grave- each Sunday. Prom that .ground* he would?
p u ll the dark green pronged vase:- stinking of“
rotting flo w er». That cold green metall. The; dead
mess to be dumped? go for fresh water from the
faucet by sb rich many’s mausoleums downhill. Th©
small pilot on the hilltop was greear
V
(Perpetual Giare)
a, smallL wooden sig n .
The boy thought then® should bet e& headstone. Witir
the father was the bby^'s sisteir whonr he hacB revplaced^ her dea.th a year before his birth.. Fronr
the hilXt©p, the distant spires of Manhattan
stowd in peirpetual m ist>lik e’ a citadel of destiny,,
seen yel; uncomprehended . ^ 8'
50
The image given is that of many individuals quiet in?
their tombs after- a vain struggle'iin or against the -city* "The
distant, spires, o f Iffianhattan'’' pictures a cold and massive
c it y
where individuals fight hopelessly to survive. And this coldness
and 'bareness of Manhattan not only suggests an economic "battle
Taut also an ecological one».. It is young Smith again haunted-by
The holocaust invaded my dreams* Bfefore I saw the
the firs t newsreels,. I had dreamed thean in the:
human detail they? could; never giv®; aft ear seeing
the films-:,, I dream®® anew in the technical, detail
I had lacked 'before* Terror captive^ X read;
scien tific articles on atomic; energgr and ® serialized
novel in the GiSlliers* wThe Blast"* set in the?
remnants o f Manhattan! anfter worldwid ©1 waxr*^
3
Next comes a variation on the theme onf death* The "boy's
sister" in the poenr is not an imaginary character* In real life .
Smith-had a sister who had died before he was bornw In 1952
Smith' wrote "Death Song to h is sistexrr
Why
The
The
Why
does she sleep so poorly and so long?
dusk' is coming on with fire flie s«
wind is warmsnight voices’ start lo>w cries*
is her breath the song of dimming stars?
Her lip s are cold,, I know; her tears; lie new
Dike evening dew upon a summer h ill*
And now so white and lo st,, so far and still*
She only sleeps and smiles perhaps; a love* 20
♦
The experience of t h i& sister*^' death seems to have* be?emi
stocked^ de«ply in Smith's* psyche, especially in a kind of game-he
plays in which he is inexorably linked to the deadr
I was- a kind o f replacement for herwM
_____
,
In fact Smith endowes h is protagonist,,Hamilton^with some
aspects of his own past.. Sm ith's father,, like Ifemilton,,s, died
when he was a little boy, precisely when he was four years old.
His father was^ buried in a cemetery called; Mount d i v e r t exactly
51
as
happened to Hamilton's father.. Smith*s mother used to taJtee:
him to the grave nearly every we eke while Hamilton*^, mother tooir
him every- Sunday«.
Anpther important detail in the cemetery episode: is
the
name Hamilton.. I t is the f i r si; time the reader gets, acquainted
with/the protagonist* a family name * From this moment on, SnitBn
simply c a l l » him by h is last name,. H&miltom. Ckrincidentally* .'. /
Alexander Hamilton^ is buried in the yard1o f Trinity Church*
O b v i o u s l y Smith is being ironic for 'Hamilton was the
opposite o f Jefferson and he wanted to free the United States
from being agricultural and transform it into an, industrial cojuntry.
„Jeffersicm was a bucolic* agricultural,. farm-centered raaru.§
A less ironic and more obvious technique would have be®»
to simply use Jefferson we the protagonist*’s name* But Smith)
chose* Hamilton to be the name o f T r in it y 's protagonist because?
o f his own curiously ambivalent approach: to the interaction!
between the bucolic and the commercial.»
In a way Alexander-Hamilton could be called) the father
of American capitalism and the great advocate for development
o f a factory system, fanatically against the Jeffersonian Franfeil in ia n philosophy of agrarianism*
§
(Jefferson) hated the cities - that is,. the crowding
.of,, people together in squalor - *.... he considered the
yeoman or independent farmer the most reliable citizen
of free society, and ..... he feared: the importing of
industrial revolution into the United States
Stuart Gerry Browns Thomas Jefferson^ (New Yôrkr
Washington Square Press* 1966);, p *v ii„
Jefferson believed that a favourable environment,, sucha
as the American co^untrysider nourished virtuous char —
acteristics in humankind* whereas cities bred o r brought
man's lowest and weakest traits*
Merle Curtir The Growth of American Thought (New Yorlirs
ferper & Bow* 1964):* p- 16Q*
H a m il t o n 's
economic th e o rie s were based on i n e q u a l i t y
o f human rig h ts- -- as M erle C u r tis p o in ts out in The Grow tit o f
Am erican T h o u g h t -- and t h is Sm ith would n ever consciously accept :
H am ilto n , in d e fe n d in g the t h e s is that the govern­
ment must be stro n g and s e n s it iv e to the in t e r e s t s
o f the great property h o ld e rs , em phasized even
more b a l d l y the theory/ o f the innately uneq ual
and s e l f i s h nature o f m a n w ^
O f course
Sm ith,
"in n a te ly
unequal nature o f man"' sounds undarxirsiLc,
b e i n g m arried to a Je w is h woman,, would neve r accep t th is
w ay _o f v i e w i n g .m a n » . Jews, have s u ffe r e d enough; f o r h a v in g been;
thought " u n e q u a l * 11
A le x a n d e r,
He chooses a new HamilLton,. a descendent o f
to re ev a lu ate,, in 1975*- h is a n c e s t o r 's afcrctrine.
T r i n i t y ^s Ham ilton i s not going to accept the teçîmcr—
commercial, c o n d itio n s to w hich A le xan der Ham ilton r e l e g a t e d man:
..... v?omeji and even g ir l s found employement in
the r i s i n g o f f a c t o r ie s and m ills w ith the approval
not o n ly o f humble men-who needed the h e lp o f
w ives and daughters to support t h e ir f a m il ie s but
of such; champions o f m anufacturing in t e r e s t s as
A le x a n d e r Ham ilton.. The hours o f la b o r were fx-om
sunup to sundown; the shops and m il l s were o ft e n
dark and-damp, even acc o rd in g the' stan d ard s o f
the' time.. I t was these m ills and f a c t o r ie s that
Ham ilton,, foe o f eq ü â litâ ria n d o c t r in e s , regarded
as n u r s e r ie s o f v i r t u e fo r low er- class c h ild r e n
and w o m e n .^
Sm ith pro je c t s h im s e lf into
T r i n i t y * s p ro ta g o n ist and
se ts John Ham ilton in d ir e c t opposition- to h is f a m il i a l p ast*
Contrasted to S m i t h 's
e s p e c ia lly i f
"John, ^
"A le x a n d e r ” seems rather- cynical,
the re a d e r r e c a l l s what A lexan d er Hamilton' him­
s e l f s a id about m anu factu ring and the employement o f women and
c h ild ren r
It is worthy o f p a r t ic u l a r remark that,, irr gen­
e r a l , women and ch ild r e n are renderâ more u sefu l,,
and the l a t t e r more early u sefu l,, by m anufacturing
e s t a b lis h m e n t s ,t h a n they would o therw ise b e*24
John Ife.miltom is a touchingly? human character* He is not
Sttipicfliyr blind to the harnn o f industrialization! and is at times
extremely c ritic a l oaf the b ig city-.whicht he first fe lt in his
childhood memories up on Mount d i v e r t «
w
v
Back to the present,, again in Manhattan* Hamilton) is a n
unintentional w itn ess 1of the attack launched^ by'the workea?s from
the World Trade Genter construction silte? against at peace maorcdfc im
front o f the City Hall.*
,
In 1970' Smith himself was a witness to the hardhat march!
021 City Hall and "the mel£e at i; Pace? Goliege; where ganged men with 1
hammer® and' pipers- beat solitary students, including girls,, while
the policemen w a tc h e d ." Ray Bbxerj. now an assistant editor-of
The Smith!, was at Sm ith's side when a ll happened. Suddenly^ Smith;
noticed his friend had disappeared? iin the crowd-* Later he learned
9
Boxer- had wandered around> the city in shock.
What Hamilton sees is not any different tham how things
really happeneds
Church — UrujSualL
Something
Shouting “ Men
yellow helmets shouting in the streetOn Broadway* Broadway &-Wall Street i n front of
the church
He walked toward angry men inside churchyard,and a
short burly worker hauled down a fla g . Red' Gro&s
Flag — into Broadway crowd- — CHEERS. — the grinning^
flagtaker*
"Why did they want the flag ?”’ Peeling stupid,.
Hamilton asked a workman^.
'"That's a Commie fla g .'"
" I thought it was a Red Gross flag..”
"Not an ordinary Red Cross flag* There is some­
thing funny about i t * " ^5
This episode well illustrates Harry Smithes philosophy*
Smith is against the "easy" masses which; he believes are easily
manipulated- and might be transforme d? into puppets of fascist tend­
encies*
He has a special fear of the masses: because, like im
T rin ity 1s mel5er they might easily^ be transformed into: a disordelyr
mob.. Here the mob* blinded by their hatred: against communism^,
ironically sees: in the red colour
6 f the Red? Gross fla g a symbol
o f communism. Smitfr not only' expresses? his personal, feara but alsoc
warns against the dangerous^ feature of fa r right American" "ipaitii—
o tism."/Fascism, he reminds usr is also^ based on nationalist and;
anti—communist p rin c ip le s.
There is also' a lot of irony in this episoxte.. The proletarian
pivot o>f' so c ia list revolutions is here motivated to- take attitudes
which are against its own interests. The Arnericam working class
sounds more like an echo o f a strong and short-sightedi government
which is above a ll anti—communist. The yellow helmeted
worker
men of the World Trade Center are a llied too a consciously "neutral­
ized*' police^ they become part of the Establishment. The
cdM
war
and the terror against communists move the workers to assault the
students.. This is an expression of American fascismi whieft- Smith]
is extremely aware of*
S i h is article- "Conscience &. Consciousness otf War" Smith;
patiently analysed the involvements the United; States lias
in recent w ars. He&xwed
had
the change^ in American? consciousness
towards wair from World War IT to Vietnam* American soldiers, trans­
formed into' barbarians,, were no longer fighting for their democratic
ideals but against the ghost of communismw In a passage of' the
article,
talking about President Johnson^ Smith describes this
new barbarismr
*
His decisions (Johnson's) not to seek re-election
in 1968 closely followed the apocalypse.of Song
My, wherein; we had seen ourselves become: no better
than the Nazi murderers of innocents, save for
one helicopter'pilot who: dared intervenes to: save
hurt childrens. '
Smith1, never ignored the fact that a powerful machine
encouraged the wars the arms industry. In a way Trinity's w>rker&
also represent the military—industrial complex. As long as thenre
is war,
the arms industry' w ill survive either producing armaments
f o r a llie d countries or to^ use- themselves. The working class is
fo r this arrangement Tiecause it means; more jobs*.
Trinity presents capitalism perverted and turned! into^
a
war machine... The Peace Hally is in Wall Street,. the core ofT West­
ern capitalisms This implies that capitalism* thrives on w&r.
I
. >
'
The police stand out in "Order for, Bttriall"'«. The 'orders
are from' above, where there is a place exclusively for the pewej*-.fittlU Power in a capitalist regime' means moneys a lot ojf money..
Power in a ca p ita listic regime do«s- not necessarily mean) people
or*, at least,. people*'s; interests» Smith understoodi this whemhe
wrote in NewsARTg
As we escalated our defense of the Diem regime*
3T d id n 't see the entaoglenBnt for what it wasJUfhen;
w«& belatedly learned of our direct m ilitary aetionv.
1 s t i l l uncritically accepted! our government pro­
paganda about International Communism versus Fre«?
Worlds I was disgusted! by the rotten bunch we
were backing, but I believed! what I was told re- •
garding the importance 01f keeping our commitments*
Thus IT rationalized our undeclared? war» Sa did
President Johnscriu. In itially ,. I saw him as a maw
o f peace in a situation where evil rides all
roads* I had not yet realized that our experiences
with Nazi Germany <
8fe Imperial Japani were false
guides in modern flssia,. nor had I seen that our
power politics could indt ju s t ify this violence
and violations Nevertheless I was aighast 'at the
slaughter of the people, as^ night after night w-©
saw it on TV, the skilfuil pictures^ of death, suffer­
ing,, devastation. In February 1967*. I wrote a
long letter to President Johnson*. I said we "taust
use our might with the utmost restraint,,1" trying
to avoid civilian casualities*. I protested '"‘the
chemical warfare aimed at destroying the crops
of the p eo p le."'"! also told himr"We? have been
supporting a governmeaajfc most indifferent to
the interests^ of the peopley and we have beexr
ojppo sing what is essen tially a populist movement
I agree with the critics- who say this situation'
should never hare' happened? we should never have
supported Diem as we did? we should"have agreed
to support only a government" working for Viet namese people,, and we should not have dishonored
the Geneva" Treaty calling for free electiorife.."^?
56
Trinity<1s drama unfolds when President Nixon was: ini th&
middle^of. hiSL>first-c4:ernr — ^
the'"jalimost triiunrph"of American
fascism. During Nixon"s government ;tlta-:ito4 ted4i5^art©s^«'r® sending
bonrb«r® into Cambotlia without the consent of the S e n a t e s In ref­
action there was an increasing revolt, of the young people against
warw^The Peaceniks started anti-Vietnam protests a l l over the
country*.
,
0
f
minds
Smith 1 is not as tolerant o f this government as he was :
the previous one.. Ke detects a sp lit feeling in the American
young versus crld* renovation versus^ consexvatismv, peace
versus? war* The young were no longer misled! by the nature» oof theVietnam: warf they had3 alreadyr found! what the real, conflict was*
Sailami smelUL —
a thick slab of Jewish) salami* Noticing Hamilton* s
stare, the old man said he didn’ t know what this
world was coming to>, the young have no respect,
>
the elders liaclfc conviction,, authority-is weakaading.
the Chinese^ are waiting, yes, the Reds make student'
riont& and the spoiled young punks pee on the fla g
that gave thenar every things hs: never ha;d anything
arid things came hard). 28
*■
The old man*s talk is s-pgatanstie*
It is the same old
talk: young people in a ll Westerm nations have heard« there ijs
in filtr a tio n o f Reds among students? young people should be thank­
fu l to the. government whicth fed them? they should be patriotic,
and not assimilate foreign theories especially i f from
*
*
Communist World, etc.
Smith clearly associates all this talk with) '"salami
smell., '' "Jewish salsani smell* " whichi turns
ocucfc to be- a good:
metaphor for JJewisic •"flesh'' during the Holocaust. Suddenly the
old man*s talk: sounds-very fascist* It is Smitft"s racial memory/
behind the Peace S a l l y *8 episode in M anhattan^
... § It should perhaps be mentioned here that although Smith
is not himself Jewish he surrounds himself with Jewish intellectuals.
How much this has been brought about by his marriage "to a Jewish
womanoan only be conjectured. Certainly,, though^. Smith is the
soul of sympathy when it comes to the Jews*
■9
In the middle of this consciousness or,, as Smithi would
prefer saying, this lackr o f consciousness, the policemen "watched
and smiled" .at the massacre in silent, consent*. The situation! is
commom im undemocratic countries.
pipes
"Ganged .men with hammers and'
1beat solitary students'" provoking the tumult and giving
reasons fo r police intervensions. .
policemen smiling apologetic requesting gesturing
mob bacle?
mob growled,, gave away*2®
It happened in “Manhattan? it happened: in Kent State
Uihiversity, in Ohio'.
0n these occasions police'are generally' called to make
sure there w i l l be no tumult in the street®* However it is
necessary to see that a Peace Rally is ultimately, a protest
against the government which is involved in war* The government
cannot accept this and orders the police "to prevent iumult. 11What
really happens is that members of the police* dressed in civilian!
clothes,are in charge of starting the; tumult* in filtra tin g the®selves among the students* The police then have a goo:d excuse to
interferes
,
Lowered: flags — Kent State- — Hamiltoni Cambodia*
V ie tnam*KENT STATE SHOT DOWN BY' NATIONAL GUARD a? lowering o f flags — O ffic ia l morning -S.drooilis
close - HftKDH&TS; ATTACK PEACE MARCHERS _ New Yp-rk»
May 8 — Rampaging construction workers fromr the*
massive World Trade Center- site- 3®
The working class in Trinity becomes an efficien t ins­
trument o f action for capitalism 's status quo* Policemen? i n
'"civilian clothes" are not totally necessary* The reactionary?
American working class can solve the problem by its e lf*
Bor Harry Smith; capitalism surges as tire diabolical
father o f the fascist masses* In Smith there is the everpresent
implication that aristocracy is inherently genteel»
58
Childrenws crusade — Wall Street $_______ Broad*
Hamilton place®
— The New York Stock Exchange — Steps of Federal
Buildingr —
Children said charging rank»
steel, helmets — yellow
hurt childrem
Feair
watch and smile
The policemen! watched: & smiled
Smith uses the children's crusade as a. metaphor of the
peacenik' s massacre- The children"s crusade was an attempt made
in early 13th Century by French) and German children to free the
Holy Rand*. The repealed failu res of the crusading armies afteir
the First C r u s a d e -- 1 0 9 6 /9 9 —
gave rise to the impressiom
that only the sinless and the pure of heart would gain GEod's
favor in defeating the Muslim- infidel- The pure? of heart were
obviously the children.. B u t. the marchi started by a Frenchi shep—
herdV Stephen of: Wenc&rae*. im 1212,
came- to am unhappy? end. Thei
pathetic? effort by children) to free the Holy Land highlighted
■
r
■
the growing relutrfcance o f adults .to participates iin crusades aancfc
illu strated the considerable and genera?! decline: in Europe o £
crusading fervour.
A s Smith, associates the Children"s Crusade with* the
hardhat e^piso^e he makes, it cleair that the United: States estab lish ­
ment was nort w illin g to accept peace and?* above a ll* illustrates
the decline of American b e l ie f ’ in peaceful means of resolving
c iv il conflicts.
The sspxtrifice o f inncrcent lives was equally
stressed in both) struggles?.
A priest closed; the highi black wrought iron gates
Muttering mem — sl shout in the arowdi
My son is dead be causes o:f them
Mw son is dead '
Myr seem .
through! muttering mobs of "citymem'
5‘
V
,ri n , * * * * *
thom tu m e s t men to destruction! ^
The image Smith describes is' fu ll of Christian symbolism
as an attempt- to. p arallel the event of the Crusades*, the churcfe
serves as hospital to the wounded? the priest is the one who;
closes the church"s door isolating the sacred temple from the
hysterical mob? Psalnn 9® is evoked; againw
. .The clear sympathy? Smith presents for the "flower children !’1
so; far is a rather Romantic attitu de. In the sixties* years be­
fore he published Trinity., there were youtha movements a ll over
the country? whichi preached: a return to Nature* Hippies/Beatniks/
H o w e it Children,, a ll believed; that mem should turn to nature
and try to free thanseLvee from
urbam strangulations It was the
beginning o f the natural food movement,, anti—insecticides* anti—
pollutions The ecologists* protested against synthe^tics material
and preached a return to natural clothing* Protester, against
industry pollution) and atomic trash started to be heard. Obstet­
ricians lectured in fa voir erf the natural child birth) while' the
young preached free love. Historians- started to review Nbrthy
Central and South! American hastory and to stress the importance
of the Indian,Fs- role in spite of whitens in ju stic e . There was
a mystical return to' God and religion^ Tft.'ew was a pastoral
feeling as strong as the rejeetiom of moneys values, statistics
and everything capitalism: represented. Thoreau was transformed
into- a national her® and the hermit—rebel of Waldem Pound
ended up ocn a>. stamp.
.
So fkir Smith) totallyr identifies? witha the "flow er (^hildraalí,
sea® witfti their anti—establishment protests
Old magnolia®,, flowering —
a man"s mind hurt
Hurt childrem
and magnolias* flowering- —
■
constructions & destruction! 33
Mam"s mind is. equally hurt* w ithin this col® society*
as? the children's bo die», were?. While man) builds higheir and 1h itte r
J;5J05TQC
GREEN 3*OEMSEKBS, ’SO. U.
101 Nehoiden Road, Boston 02168
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Ha m . i ^ k J Î fc&fsparrows hidden in the turret eaves;
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Great towering oaks with broad young leaves, J C £ „ s * ,
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hollows old in owl and squirrel love;
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Quick honeysuckle's fragrance aching
up serpentines overtly inching;
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vined on forest floor,
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Live in green towers, take the plain loaf,
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HARRY SMITH
^
febm Two Friends
a-
A
t
_
Smithy's reply
c u t £ & * * $ ’ ( 'e h .
n ^ x A s iu
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y.
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to my critique of Movement Xf "Order- for Burial
constructing each time ta lle r buildings,, inside himself h®, be. —
comes cooler and more aloof,
destroying hi® owm being*
die —
stroyiing h is individuality*
The hysteria o f the hardhat attack on the peaceniks has
as: background) the World Trade Genter in the process- oaf can< —
struct icm and it w ill re appear* finished ira a^resBn^serquen©®"^
twin' monsterings skyward
a man saw — Massive complex for dense-4s4verltoney~
combed' w ith cxrstliear commerce;, and the constructiB»
men. marching to City Hteillr singing,. ©OD BiESS! MEHTCA
masses hiving skyward
and s k y like a soiled sheet*34
Smith finishes the fir s t movement "Order fair Burial"
with) this image o f the World Trade Genter as a part o f a giant
beehive which stands for New York* It is the first time Smithi
caricatures mem as bee«, an images that w ill be constant through­
out the rest of the book. A bee is a. small insect of no: individual
importance* Its l if e lasts as l i t t l e as twenty-two,. twenty—thr ee
days amd is completely^ dedicated to the work of the hive*gathering
nectar fronn the flowexs in> order- t©> produce wax and honey?* The
image is perfect* Symphonically Smith goes back to the starting
theme* the praise of the material in mair''S' transitory life *
4 .1 ..2.
Second Movement? "The Growth of The World Trade Center"
Smith starts the second movement of Trinity in a mock—
ep ie tone saying that the United States is the incarnatiom
the sc ien tific mind,, of technological ideas* He denounces
of
the
replacement of human values by/ sc ien tific and commercial ones:
To whom the cuinihg suck of commerce comes,.
I sing, steel members of humanity,,the growing mass
whose risin g bulk portends dominion of the cube*
this athletic tetshraoxiracy and its perfection of
rigidity, of works & systems & their sources,
structure & utilizatio n , of programs and computation^,
unit & uniformity, conformity & the continuous
process and continuous frame, conventions of colums
& beams,, continuous walls skyward
Hamilton outgabe* 35
In an ironic: parody o f Walt Whitruants phrase "This athetlic.
democracy,!* Smith uses the expression "th is athletic t e c h n o c r a t "1
meaning a country of huge technocratic systems; which has as
citizens conformists, emotionally coaüie d by a
u tilita ria n infira»-
structure*
*
•
Facing this õmitious reality Hamilton "outgabe. u "Outgabe"
is one of the words included' by Lewis Carroül in the nonsense
poenr. "The Jabberwo cky" in? Alice in tlae- Wonderland» It could be
&■' iptm on "grab, u "'grabber}^ meaning that Hamilton "chief aim iw
l i f e i s to^ make money out oi this greedy society;. It could simply^
wojrift: as a nonsense words Hkmil’to>n outgabe„ i.e-,. he saw mr sense
in such? a society..
In fact, Hamilton^ oui: of pity*, felt lik e a court fo o l.
In &i clear re—alius ion to 15) rick,, the foocl i n Harrrlet. Hamilton
thinks of himself as Hamlet thought of” Ybricks
Let me see* (Hie takes the s k u ll.) Alas* Poor
Yòricki' I knew him*. Hbratio;*. a fellow of infinite
’je'st, of most excellent fancy? he hathi borne on
terns' back a thousand times,, and now how abhorred
in' my imagination: it is — my gorge, rises at i t .
Here hung those- lips that I have kissed I know
not how o f t . Where-- be your gibes now? Your gambols,,
your songs, r your flashes of merriment,, that were
wont to set the table on a roa**? Not one -now to
mock your grinning?
Hamilton fe lt misplaced in the "dominion! of the cube."
Hfe suddenly imagined himself after death’s
JOHN A.. HAMILTON:
1924 S021 of Nancy Arlens & Thomas Hamilton;
Member of the Association of the Bar
of the Gityr oif New York* partner in
the distinguished firnn o f his fathear.
Devoted husband &- father* he d id his
Best for* himself,, his familyr & h ia
Fellow Mam 3T
Envisioning his own tombstone* Hamilton» questions Mnp-
,
s e lf 7about what good he would have done for himself r his family
and h is fellow man,! presumably in this order of importance*
Smithy projected? ill the character of Hamilton worries;
about what
'& ®
going to: be f e lt
after h is death*, Will- pecnple
simply' say '"son of Anna Dinkelmeyer and Harry Joseph Smith, f'”taember
o i this and that association”? Smith does not accept the idea céf
not being recognized for his individual efforts? he does not want
\ ^ ^ b i ^ 8iiiqplly-?.ïdent’i f i ;©.â with groups and associations? he wants
to be known for h is own deeds.. He surely seems to believe that
personal deeds as well as individual efforts are much more important
than gj lilîffe o f imposed' values and pre-established attitudes*
whicBa do not accept the individual"s participation! and modification:
o f history*
Hamilton. sees himself as a fool used by this cold and
narrow-minded society* and he starts questioning the validity o f
such a society*
And Hamilton wondered’ on goodness & the good and
the good in his life,, vaguely in weariness like
as. weight of the infinite unknown forces onto &
beyond him,, a mononucleosis- of h isto ry in him*
this sickness into- a vertigo o i commerce & abyss*
and he knew a dull confusecf despair he had not
known before 38
As Hamilton wanders through New York he wonders what
good he has done so far* He feels weary and sick of this essen­
t ia lly un;fust society which has transformed Gbd from accessible
to mathematical:
0 God which art the idea of Gox>jd
and all the ideas of good
0 God: which art the holy greening
and the sacred white lorve
0 God which art the dreanr of Perfection!
and the perfection of dreams
0 God which art the theory of the rig id frame
we k il l the greening & the love 39
Smith? says -there was a progression from softness to ri­
gidity? i n God) which was patronized, by capitalistic; society. God
is .the r ig id frame which: is central, to skyscraper archite*ttures»
God who originally' was good and tolerant,, associatediwitfii thee'
idea o f love and nature^ is now transforrned intoo the gcrxi of'
perfect unerring equations,, an intolerant god* The formejt is- th»
god of the 01d Testament,, the? latter the gcrd of capitalism*
v S m i t h
speaks of the good that has been; sp ec ifically '
"created"/"transform ed,,; in New York City,. in Manhattan, in Tri­
n ity Church. The traditional god*. once natural^, is now changed*
into anaindustrial god,, a perfect man-made god.
l®rweGliaverseem previously?*pEfert Srane,. in the first
part o f The Bridge mentioned Brooklym Bridge in a similar de­
monstration of man-made object-worship* Grane''s bridge as well
as- Sm ith's skyscrapiKT;^ is a creation of manr a new idol of
capitalistic technocratic America. However*, this creator condzracticts
the Old Testament creator who never worshipped his own creations
after they were finishedw. In reality? the creation) it s e lf become®
divinized!. There is a rise' of the Infcnamaam symbolized in architec­
tures by rig id perfection*
The divjjnizstion of m aterialist is? extensive t© Satan as:
well aa to- Gbd^. God and S artan have been welded to ge their im a
technological nreabct*
«
"God is that which none greater can be conceived»"'
But listen:: 1 say Satan is inseparables god & clevil
are one in perfect weld,, the divine
demoniacs of the rigid: bent,, this
unspeakable skywardness
Hamilton outgabe..^®
The eruption
of cabalism* into normative Judaism pres —
viously presented in Trinity not only shows the influence, of the;
Cabala
i n Smith) but also' denotes his repulsion; at repressive?
ways of thinkings
Gtod is the girder- 0
Gtod th » rigid; frame
thier buildings
Prince o f this world5
Our w ill be done
God & Sat am erne 41
-
*
'
Ife apway this-un±i>i^ti(m !.trfi:g^#iaji®ji#y3i l ;%GfOiul<i be easeily
explained in Christian terms. It is the ccrnfirmatio:m o f the
human surrender to' satanie capitalism? it is the demonstration)
men are worshipping the wrong gotiL Along w ith the lines of the,
curiously evil acceptance (evem welcoming)) cabal is.tie“ theology',
SMith departs from his episcopalian tradition ancb accept®. nevdilw
as fact/subs tance..
Unlike the Christ o f St »Luke’ s Gospel,. man does not
resist the* temptation to ado re the world and transforms: his god
into an instrument o f evil* In order to be the "Prince of the
world" man turns himself to a false and sinful god,, matter* .
which .is. represented by sky sc rap ear and the business world! Mdctem
w ithin it- Matter., embodies Bevil „and Manhattan be comes the pity
of Satan*,
There i s no doubt that Gtod is id en tified with height
in Trinityv.Men want to reach the skies by building very higfti
buildings*
,♦
’The man stood before the tower of the world trade
grown tallest and beheld; the cloucfc-higha derricks
a s ' ;tyranousari on some stern height*42
T
Hie World Trade Center stands for a kind of reverse:
Tower of Babel* In spite of the lin g u istic differences o-f the^
people in New York City, because, of their different n atio n alities,
everyone s t i l l speaks the same language? commercial EnglishwEvem
so these .people* like the people off Babel* have beem punished;
by a biockr in communication*. Capitalism has. reduced thenr to
human muteness in the midst of econommcs^-basedi communication:*
They " communicate, M but only-superficially^. The curse erf Babel
has -beem r e fu lfille d with an ir o n ic twa—level twist,«
How did we $a>\iLt?"
as man thoughts
'
Hbw did we ge t up; the res’
Hbw d id wep get rhe^ef*
Hbw comeT ^3
" .
Smith describes men as bees in ar giant hives
Onward' & Upward
honeyr combs- o f commerce
the buiSZy bo rc-grove erf business
Btglyr
Gimbels
cubic* tower o f World Trace ^4
The word "borogrove"' used by Smith is another word borrowed
from
Eewis C a r r o ll's
11&abberwocky.V It suggests a borough in?
the grove and, in fact,. Manhattan looks like a concrete forest*
"Gimbels1' is at the same time another of Lewis C arroll*s
nonsense words and also the name of a store in Manhattan* Smith
uses it to allude to the absurd beehive? "business" o f Manhattan
commerce*
Smith describes a meaningless situation' in' humaiao teams.
He shows the in sectification of mens
entrepreneurs,.bankers,.brokerst,investors ^.architects,,
engineers,.construction men*. exporters & importers,
a ll the captains & crews of World Trade
Swarming’:
workers
"lik e bees,." Hkmilton heard the old farmer,,
h is summer- neighbor in Maine* ^5
There are times Siaith puts himself so thoroughly im
Hamilton that he himself becomes Trin ity 's protagonist* In real
l i f e Smith lives in a house in BrooMiyir heights; but works j^ighit
fn the core of Manhattan^ close to Wall Streeet and a ll the busy
"buZZy" l i f e o f the world business*
Whenever possible Smith goe« out to Maine, where he; has
an island of his own, where he can l i v e as fre® a® possible*
hiking and gardening,, catching lobsters, fis h in g . This going
back and forth'an tte city .apparently contribute# to Smith’ s re> flectio n s’ about the real life? o f man im a largely populate®
city.. Hamilton,'s reflections are an. attbo of his ownw
_
. i .' "4
The image Smith, gives is as accurate as possible» Bees
are communal non^ individual is t i e insects whose in d iv id u ality
is subordinated to the l i f e of the hive.. Man*s present situation 1
.
’
• ■
in a large c i t y like rJiew York: is getting to be the same. We has
developed a thoroughly hive-centered mentality^gathering
mon§y
instead of honey, with the curiously human side—effect of spoiling
New Yorkr's natural landscape by disrupting ecological balance*
polluting the waters of the Hudson River- and frightening its?
whales and fish? away.
When bees construct a hive they use? every single spacefqr honeycombs. Men have started a speculation! in real estate?,
similar to this- hive mentality. They construct everywhere* b uild in g
higher and higherrspace. camtaraicts. The individual is submerged
in. density.
„
Trinity is an attempt to show that men? in capitalistic'
systems are equal just in their same thought and values. There
seems to exist a strong necessity o f earning money,, of buying
a city .house*, of buying a summer house*, o f buying the newest
car* of BUYING* BUYING* BUYING.
Equality, the collective and^ the collective- of the
collective
workers swarming to their functions
Kingdom come
the Kingdom of the Cube
Eirtfr e m d u n g ' 46
At this point Smith introduces Karl Marx's term for
alienation, Entfremdung •. In fact what Marx wrote> in Has Kauital
i s v e ry much" defensible for he reported what he was truly seeing^
in English factories in mid nineteenth century. This is what
Smith presents here, the alienation* the dehumanizatioui o f mam
I
in the c ap italistic system. But Smith is far from being a communist
Hfe i s n o t defending the viability / of Marx's economic doctrine.
Hfe is simply re—stating that the real situation) reported’ byrMarx
backr. in the nineteenth? .century did not change -much* .the- only^
♦
difference being that the United Stages represent .t o d a y s England
o f the nineteeth century in terms of urban/ cap i t a li s t &<t alienation
• /■
Skrithi is not trying for solutions* Hfe id en tifies himself . .
with the messianic feeling of redemption* Maarx — — as a Jew. — —
had the same fee lin g and acted somehow as a. prophet who was to
lead the proletariat into; the "Kingdom to come," out of the .
"Kingdom1,o f the Cube. "
Marx was the prophet who announced1 the
change o f times last century.. Smith i s ana adopted* part o f the
Jewish people who-are expecting
&■ leader- ton change the present
cfead-ended; situation jcrf mechanistic' "hive-existence"1*
Smith describes industrial society and? dasjunees the fecfc that
traditional values and true ethics are cancelled by -technocratic
existence and replaced by mere norms of one’ s .profession» s
technics tatics techniques technology ----talsxlogy
techniques
--- --------- ------ — -— ethics
va i wec ‘ standards norms routines
Mobilized, for efficient action formed under the
rules of Science*
the Modern man I sing
dung dung Entfremdugr ^
«
Using concrete technical sources, Smith crosses out the
«
word "values
meaning' individual and human values, and replies
it with "^standards, “ "norms" and"routines ^1meaning the collective
attitudes men have to have in this kind? o f society* Procedures
are glorified: at the expense of the individual.. Man becomes
mobilized by the rules of a technocratic society.. Technology^
becomes teleology . (in Aristotelian termed the "fin a l cause'* of
the universe*
Smithi ironically parodies Whitman*^ extreme optimism
("The Modern Man I sing")).His desire is not to affirm the machine
68
purpose Taut, on the contrary* Smith wants to say human alienation
is excessive and t h e r e fo r e is evil* What is excessive' should be
expelled (fdung dung Ent f remdug"); .
A& this point in T r in ity Smith introduces Margaret^.
Hamilton *'s wife*
y
*
Hamilton telephoned h is officer"Unavoidably detained*"
What would they say? —
I f ' they knew what he was doing* Thinking*
And Margaret 1 h is wife*, what would she? ,.g
She might understand* w ith cool disdain*
0nce more Smith is 'feinaloguing1" with Eliort's "The Waste
Iiand"- Margaret ; is a strong shadow o f the- lady playing'the chess
game i n "The Waste Band"*
The-chair she sat in,, like a burnished throne,.
Glowed* on the marble,, where the grass
Held up by standards wrought with fruited wines
From which a golden Gupidon peeped out
(Another hid his eyes behind the wig);
Doubled the flames of seven branched candelabra?
Reflecting light upon the table as
The g litte r of her jewels rose to meet i t r -Q
From satin cases poured ini rich profusion^
Margaret
and majesty::,
is also involve® in an-artistic world o f wealth
. . . . . .
Aloof,, lovely*, pale lady of great halls*
Her breasts „**
At Salzburg for Don Giovani in the Felsenreitsehule
her decollete as she leaned to him her breasts
the full mystery
of white lik e quick blossoms,, translucent to the
the blue delicate
complexity of veins and dark nipples glimpsed*
the losig necklace of pearls
with the emerald carlxmde between her breasts*
Flesh, ornament, a loveliness of mad elegance
A f a i r contract *5®'
Again Smith adds fragm ent®/traces of h is own experience*
The physical model fo r Margaret wasL a cousin o f Smithes w ife .
Marion Camilla Petschek, Sm ith's wife,
ristocratic "background,
comes from a wealthy a -
S3is . dead father—in-law was a Jewish)
hanker in Gzechoslovaquia wId had come to America escaping from
the N azis.
■
Smith himself spent several! summer!© in S alzkaramergut ini
Austria during the sixties and saw many performances ini Salzburg.
Hi® mentioning o f "Salzburg, Don Gfiovani and great h a lls "
suggests the involvement the wealthy have with Arts, an: ire —
volvement akin too Smith"s ownv Smith sees the arts as a- bi-product
o f capitalism .
As a maxtter o f fact Smith is~ slanted in his’ own: view o f
capitalism.. He is anti—c a p ita listic and, at the same time1
,, he is
the supreme capitalist, liv in g out of interests of a trus-fc fund
whicfr is an investiment in American capitalism*. This might he
the "f a i r contract"' Smith talks of whenbe refers to the
Hamilton* —
§
relationship r
Margaret
No
he gave her Predictability^. Access & Success
the town house,. Bar Harbor the W,orld
Predictability & Cultivated: Pleasures
the art of elegance emerald on flesh
Decay
. . . . the manhole; to the underworld at his feet
sulphurous gases steaming
r
Having read my manuscript, Smith? wrote about this
comment::
My own capitalistic position is relevant to the general
discussion, but the "f a i r contract" is the relationship between
Hamilton & Margaret and is described specifically- He provides
material advantages and social status; she provides social re­
finements and beauty in the realm of appearances.. Actually he
loves her? however, there is rather limited discussion between
them? he describes the decision not to discuss his spiritual
anguish.
( June 3» 1980):
70
he knew
the in fin ite void under the glittering surfaces &
exquisite structures, the b rillian t desigm
of h is l i f e a ll his works and advocacies:
individual rights while individuals
are invalidated* penal reform: whijlfe
humanity? goes to hive* Margaret? §
Why did he love hert/ "
The truth*. No need for Truthsaying.
Perhaps she knew.
0*0*0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • » « • • • •-•
r • ••••••
0 0 0 •« • 0
A f a i r contract.51
Smithi seems to f e e l guilty for attacking while at the same
time being dependent on capitalism . EEe is pros-primitiv®* but set
thee.same time he feeds o ff the mechanisms of technological cap —
italisnu.
Under the surface of money Smith s t ill sees the hive- So
does Hamilton- Hamilton has a house in Bar Harbor — — curiouslyclose to Smithes own house in M a i n e -- and Margaret has a lot
o f jewelry.. Both Hamilton and Margarett have a ll the socaaL and eco­
nomic
p rivilege» he always advocated alll should have. Why does
everyone not have them?Hamilton — and also Smith — understand
they-are pert of the hive.HamDjm feels badly because he- has always
attacked^ the hive though he oanrot dsiyhe is part of i t . ^
§
lará nxüte Smith wrote some more information; about Hamilton;
and: this specific passage?
"A^ an Establishment liberal Hamilton has presumably been
active to promote such causes as Civil Rights and Penal Reform."
§§
About his identification with T rin ity ’ s protagonist in
this particular passage,. Smith wrote:*replying my comments?
"Of course, Hamilton is a representative of the old Anjo—
Saxon aristocracy,, the Northeast Establishment.. Therefore,, he-goes
to Bar Harbor which is-a fashionable summer colony? of the rich Rockfellers et a l. whereas 1 live among farmers and fishermen? ±xr
places which have no e le c t r ic it y and no such' fashionabilityr.
Perhaps the search for resemblances-between Hamilton and myself
has obscured the fictional ereatiánwFor instance,. Hamilton* thinks
in lawerly terms about his marriages "a f a ir contract." The
relationship between Hamilton and Margaret in no: way describes
my own m arriage."
As we have seen "before Smith is splintered, fragmented
■ 1
■'
/
.. /
towards industrial! society..;/ A# has "been stated. *Smithi writes
under a number of pseudonyms, among them Adam Dunne. Each of
these "masked projections" of the Smithaanv eg® represents some
(often buried): aspect
of Smith
him self. Dunn« is the worshipper
of "the modem as it -is understood by his Whitmanesque attitude?
towards New York. The sense of reverence with» which' Buirae- finishes
h is poenr "New York N ig h tfall "1 ( " I want ton pray") reveals Smith*
parallel feeling of admission of benefits brought by industry.
But this has lit t le to do with the hive described by Eferry Smith)
in Trin ity ?
Crowds in transit on Ghurchi Street* lunch hour
pedestrians,.traffic motor vehicles, the Hudson
Tubes, himself, the human flux
he saw the seething
Center
of World Trade,, rocketpack flitestrians & ex­
itin g , multitudinous tiny portals on a ll floo'rs*
humanity swarming about its hive towers* buzzing
busily, here and there ^2
Smith feels the same as Hamilton towards the cityr breath­
less,. restless. Under his own name, Smith does not like the sense
o f slavery he feelsf. he does not want to be under the control of
New York life ? he does not like to be compelled to work very
hard for something he does not
looks for
se
thoroughly believe in.. Hamilton?
way out of towns
Hamilton went West on Liberty' S t r e e t .53
But in a large town there are not very many places one
can hide him self. The murmur of voices is constant- Bla-bla-bla.
It is an~ intermittent murmur,
"Durabla"'?
(the old Engineering Building
Na crowd
DURABLA
twin sculpted symbols
the globe girdled by starstudded steeli
ncr
>
DURA BEA
north: side /liberty^ razed 0 .
blitered Open Site,. World Trade
a girder UP
crowd/
i-/.
*
" I can see you Hre a man who don"t like crowds,
voice., elevator man -young black,./ Subway^/St..ffieorge
in Brooklyn. Mian Hamilton had entered^ empty car*
shunned one s t i l l loading in people.Operator spoke*
surprise*, closed doors immediately
HUP
'"I don"t like them either*"' he told Hamilton.
"I t must drive you crazy* a l l those people packing
into) her© a ll the time. " 1
" I t does. " 1 54
It is very hard to separate SmitEt from! Hamilton® at this
point in T rinity. Smith himself admits this when he uses reference;
places which also mean something to him. DURABLA, for instance*
i & an apt corporate name above the entrance toan office? building
close ton Smith"s own office in Manhattan.. The Sit. ffeorrge Hbtel
is where Smith gets on the subway in Brooklyn* Hfeights.
Smith has the same feelings Hamilton does about crowds.
Explaining the elevator passage he wrote that "World Trade Center
elevators are popularly called; "cattle cars"' and that "the very
large car has many persons herded- into i t . "
The repeated use o f com (with)—words is Smith's concretist
way of stressing "ftiiveness"' (withness)) in the Manhattan- social
-
factor.
construction*
casually
causeways conduits
condominiums
computers^ 8
Hamilton questions himself about his participation in:
the hive procesa. Hie feels neither innocent nor guilty^. We is
sp lit like Smith himselfs
Hamilton im
The Moving Target mystery novel by Ross Macdonald
who read Kierkegaard read; the g u lf locked inter
is innocence lost here at some edge he looiteed! h is
l i f e & liv es
/
down, à build in g up outgabe/
But what innocence was 33?
The man had a conviction o f non—ixmocrenee^not •:
guilty of the world*. Perhaps he looked dbwna some
other gulf* Hfe did not know.-'"
'
*
Somehow Smith is the outlaw who becomes identified* with
the law. . Hfe is the outsider who-» is inside* Hfe is the rebel and5
at t h e . same time the conformist* And E&miltoar in Trinity?-reaches
s. position hardly acceptabler he is equally, far removed frpun the
problems He did* not cause it and yet lived; in it.. M s expedient
position does not satisfy evfen himself.. Hfe knows it is necessary/
ter changer
beehive tombs
1
.
beemam
behave behive
BEEMATC
Be Mam 5^
Hamilton is w illin g to act as; a? many he wants to be free?
he wants tor' feel free* He looks around? and what does he see? Hfe
sees automatized men behaving as they are supposed to do im a
non—individual*, communal* insect-like society* He sees mem being
buried alive in their m aterialistic -concern with earning money*
Playing around with religious symbols* Smith describes
Hamilton's? reflections about the existence of nom-life beyond
lif e r
OP
derrick
tendrilled
cables7
the ascension of a girder
guy ropes
the riggers
Ascension
some new b irth
fro Bethlehem steel
what birth
o t
steel
the birth of Noa»
life
DUHABLA
Business is cmr most important progressABstracts
Abstracted from l i f e *
,
QUO®
aibstacrt l i f e
Non M f § growing
Systems are a>ur most important praduets
abstractions things tools gvemment industries
institutions organizations works of worldncm
Non accreting
by units; $9
Bethlehem,
the place where Christ was b o m ,
is; substitute®
for Bethlehem, the steel company» C h rist's birth is transformed
into birth of steel-. The b ir th of the steel in the tTwS* steel
company -is the birth of a new religion^
the religion? o f industrial
capitalism- Capitalism becomes the theology of in finity * The
individual is forgotten^ the theology of systems relegated men
to a secondary positionw. There is a deification of systems.. Systems
are the eucharistic center of the capitalistic Kfass..
Throughout this passage,. Sm ith's spatial arrangement
o i words is designed to be psychologically appropriate to what
is being described.. Thus the fornr implements understanding and.
is part o f the meaning. As already indicated* Smith admits having
learned this technique from?
e-e-cummmngs.
As elsewhere^ in? T rin ity
themes contrapuntally re^appear
and become more elaborated- The rigid B&ee£H
central to>
skyscraper architecture, which has been mentioned from the start
o f the second movement,, now reappears as the symbol of muscularity?
Under the girder the man (small spasm at his lower
spine) watched the casual riggers guiding,, as passers
bjr glanced dangerthrilled overhead^, hurried on-Hie
stayed, in solid* awe
= =-= the riggers &■ their easy motions,, the girdermidway, swaying, ascent momentarily stopped..
Godlike w o r k s ------- a foreman's wave
tiiP
godlike
sweatblotched blue deninr shirts
profane
a wave
^in iste r
as a secret of muscularity-
75
In a way this reverence fim mystical materialism finds
/
its expression in religious symbolism* The reader- enters into
the value—systenrof Henry Adam*s "The Dyanamo> and The Virgin"
which shows how concepts change a » new values emerges
*
To him (Langley?);, the dynamo it s e lf was but ail in­
genious channel for conveying somewhere the heat
latent in a few tons of pQQTr coal hiddSeai in w
dirty enginehouse carefully kept out o f sight?
but'to Adams the dynamo became a symbol of i n f i n ­
ity* As he grew accustomed to the great gallery^
of machines, he began to feel the forty—foot
dynamos as a moral force,.>mucfr as the earlyr
Christians fe lt the Gross* The planet it s e lf seemed
less impressive* in its old—fashioned,, deliberate^
annual or daily revolution* than this huge wheel,
revolving withim arm*‘s length at some vertigionous
speed, and barely murmuring — scarcely humming
an audible warning to stand the h a ir 's breadth:
further for respect of power - while it would norb
wake the baby lying close against it s frame*Be£ore
the end* one began to pray to it? inherited
instinct taught the natural expression of mam
before silent and infinite force. Among the thou­
sands symbols o f ultimate energy,, the dynamo was
not so human as some, but it was the most expres­
sive *61
The reverence before silent and infinite force Smith1
presents at the end o f "The Growth of The World Trade Center1*
is the same as that which Adanr Dunne presented irr"New York Night­
fa ll.
11 Smi<
t h"s ambivalence could be easily transposed from his
own l i f e . Hte id en tifies with power/energy.- He likes to feel
' small by contrast and hates this massive reduction.of his heroic,
romantic s e lf*
Trapped in his own struggle Smith looks for a way outs
our units- to the stars
What is a ll this
matt, thought
what is a ll this
to the stars ^2
THE SMITH
5 BEEKMAN STREET
NYC 10038
RE 2-4821
b y i s d . < 4 4 4 J * * d ! c u d
- ^ru c J^u J
b/CLCJLb
4o
&**-
% u a J$o >
c ^u X a
/
e h
3 tt2 ^
M &d tJL
***
(U ^
u ^JL JL ^V ^^
A (W ,
/ '*<
(k -4-QJL- fyiadp' jt j & iA'
p A rf^A jL 4- 4A n j A c y & t J ^
K^ #
^
+
.
/ k cJ ^
/
L_
Smithes reply
to my commentary of the second movement,. "The
Growth of The World Trade Center"’..
Smithi fin ishes the second movement of Trinity
' '
allusion that , the machine age
f
signals p. journey <rf
with
the
mam to the
stars... The journey to the stars is a mystical return to.
It
is a return to religio n and its traditional values for individual
J
*
development.
...
v
The circle becomes complete. Matter becomes & bridge tcc-
the m ystical. Opposing forces become fused into a new launching
out into the wo rid o f The Over-Soul.. As. in Whitman: the te c h n o ­
lo g ical passage to- India becomes a passage to more than India
—~ m return .1to Old Testament dieisticfc o rig in s.
4 .1 .3
.......
Third Movements "Day of The Earth1"
As- "The Growth of The Worlds Center'“ finishes with a
journey into the future,. "Day of The Earth" starts with a journey
into the p a st.
In epic tone Smith takes the reader back to the seven teenth and eighteenth centuries,
discovering quite a different
Manhattan than the one described in the previous movements
Once upon Hudson's shores beached whales
Heaved & shook*shook earth and the gathered men*
Through their feet the life throes in the land,.
Resounding and receding like the waves
of the lessening tid e . The fathers of the church
with whale spades* axes and long knives
Cut-in* Great God* the yet living flesh*
Flensing in long spiral peels fat thick blubber
which the women tried out irji coppers
on the beach.. O il* soap, and from the head*
spermacetti candles? steaks hewn from the small.
Thus the leviathan nourished the church,
Governor Ben Fletcher therefore chartered
Trinity for salvage of wrecked whales
from the High Seas.
Suddenly Smith shifts the reader back to the present
contrasting past and present New York:Where that rough strand had been
77
a man walks straight concrete athwart steel frames
for which New York pushed; Hudson's piaired banks
^
west ward far, aand m> whales- roil this thick; maorine.
Present day Manhattan is not a place of whales, fisher­
men and boats.. Manhattan has even lost its bathing beaôhes • be­
cause of the constarit la n d fill operations and progressive polllut ion*
Harry Smith* feels very nostalgic? about the whole change
§
in the Manhattan landscape.. He,, the -viking-looking Smith , ideBtifie s with the: sea., Hfe weeps over the fate of the sea his grand­
father sailed㤤
There is a whole tradition in American literature that
has" a » theme the confrontation (between man and sea- M elv ille,
Whitman,. Hemingway, Smith.... . they all accept the heroic: c o n ­
frontation of the mythic legendary hero against nature* "force"':
And on the eastwhile strand, the man
resonated to a raucous red—named' generator JOY
rf » t » » » » » ♦»■»»»»»»»» » » » » » *•».■»>» r» * r ( .joy machines
erection ecstantico
Automation
men’ construction men
and Captain Hamilton, Korea, saw a blown man una­
ble eding thrashinggasp like a bleacheëk whaler
a ll Weifts Wrecks Drift Whales ^
Smith never fa ils to exploit his massive "Smithness"'.
The logo' of The Smith;., in fa c t , is an anvil*
§§
Smith wrote about his grandfathers
"My grandfather ran away from home at the age of four­
teen to be a cabin boy on a whaling ship ( 1884) and was away
at the sea for more than ten years? his seafaring was terminated
by his second shipwreck, a- grisly tragedy in the South Seas where
only he and anther man survived; aftea? six weeks in ai lif e boat.
( April 2 8 , 1980)
As- a c lassicist Smith accepts the struggle between man)
/
and whales. He himself lik e s fishing in M aine. What Smith does
not accept is the struggle: among menu. The mentioning of Korea
and "a- blovra man bleeding" reflects; his strong seversiout to? war.
In May,. 1967*, two; months before advocating the uncondi­
tional cessation of American combat in Vietnam, opposing
the^
war emotionally,, before rejecting it intellectually,, Smith)
wrote a long po^ero called "West Battery" with an unpremeditated5
recurrent image of the Screaming Eaglet
The Great Black Eagle
screaming down, with sweptback: wings _
Talons clenched the olive b r a n c h .
The script —
"&11 Weifts Wrecks D rift Whales ”1— fromi
a document displayed in Trinity Church,
chartering the parish?,
for salvage o f beached whales,, contrasts with the image of mem
fighting meniK The "natural struggle "1Smith: can accept* war as
suchi disgusts him .
The melancholy, tone which Smith uses to lament the eco­
logical destruction of land is w istfully nostalgic*
thrice o f f Amagansett
the blow
of whales in h is childhood, only
tiny geysers near horizon
and not a g a in ^ 7
«
Smith chose Amagansett, a town on Eong Island,.: to be
the scenery of Hamilton’^
remembrances. Amagansett is an' Indian
name and the Indians were engaged in whaling on those shores.
Indians and whaling couple together in a romantic man— againstnature link,, presenting the reader with a vision of noble sav?ageness.
Once more Smith gives Hamilton a memory from his owni
pasts
1996 — Hamilton
and whales perhaps close to common) as the porpoise
packs- sporting in the Sound his summers at Rocker
Point when foxes raw along the shore by his grand­
mother 1s placed the funn^
dogs fronr the w qtq& s*
(ftriadma woods which went along farther than' eyes
eastward around dunes into dark blue distances
o f bltir c l if f s * Perhaps as Manhattan had been:- in>
the fullness a f the whales
a fa ir land to^ fa ll iin with*
Henry Hudson. 68
^
Smithy in a pastoral interlude* remembers his (and- Ha­
m ilto n 's ) 1 Long Island past* stressing the disintegration! o f thenaturarl "frame
context "r
River Northi
River Prom Beyond
T h e Mountains
Eat
E sb Bon
te> da ^
The picture is recurrent throughout the third movementr
Long Island was an Endian land.. Eahoteda is the Indian name of
the Hudson River, meaning "River from beyond the Mountains . "Na­
ture past and Nature present w ill not be found in Nature future..
The accomodation of dissonance Smith is able.to keep
in his symphonic Trinity can be felt im the contrast between
pastoral and industrials Smith presents this contrast in har­
monic- dissonances
a
Eahoteda
acetelyne
man's lightning
man's lightning dream
new higher towers without spires?®
§
As a child Smith lived at Rocky Point in the summer at
his grandmother's house on the North Shore o f Long Island, a m
a. c l i f f overlooking Long Island Sound.
The image Smith conveys is ricfci. Acetelyne is "man*Hightning. * Man,, through) steel/industrialization/technology^
creates his own city of Divine M an»__
Hkrt Crane used the same figure in "The B rid g e.T It
is understood that affietelyne was an important element in the
bridge *'s construction,, and it is from the bridge*s summit that
Wjall.iStreet,. the core of American capitalism,. i s visible^.
. In Trinity Smith compares pastoral Manhattan (Kahoteda),
with the industrial man-made landscape ccf "new higher tower
without spires'*.
.,
Following T rin ity 's basic symphonic organizing principle*
the theme o f automation o f men .is introduced, abandoned and
reintroduced with variation and elaboration in "Day? of the Earth"r
aaid in the guiding gyre Nought
Nought was
Nought was foryeten by/ t h 1infortune o f Marte
Episcopal whales and Grama"s woods
the carter over-ridden by his c a r t e l
Quoting Ghaucer * and weaving the medieval poet's words
with h is own,. Smith water-colors an almost Hemingwayesque
psychic landscape o f Nougfet/Nbthingness. Guiding? Guided Directions
Nothing was guided*, nothing directed;.
Sarcastically, Smith again echoes Whitmanr
Automation and the man, I sing.
Under the wheel 72
Opposite to Whitman Smith is being ironic about the
progress o f c iv iliza tio n which at times he presents as a retro­
gression in man's life r
&
Smith quoted Ghaucer from"The K n ig ht's Tale".
The gones of youth- The forests of the past..
/
Inertia
inert id' 6 f species
inertia of science
inertial guidance of humanity,, unmanned,
automatic* the oiigoing institutions system»
onto systems
Let bygones fry bygones?
Nod more chestnuts
The Sutureof man and earth
Under the wheel
fu ll lowe
i sing ^3
Inertia is the property by which it remains in a state
of rest or* i f it is in motion, continues in th e . same direction
and in straight lin e unless it is acted upon external foxce* In'
the poem the word5 is wisely used to express important images..
There is environmental.destructive inertia be causa nature is
being destroyed and man does not do anything to change things*
There is^iinertia-otf species because man himself does not l e a m
and consequently does not improve* There is inertia in science
because it has not been used to serve? manw. There- is an inertial
guidance of humanity, unmanned,, automatic* because man creates
self regulatory autonomous inventions .which become to ta lly selfcontained1
*
There is a separation between the systems created by mam
and their preator. Man creates something and that which he cireates
becomes self-regulatory and cannot be controlled, a ll of which
smacks o f atomic war* space programs, automatic missiles guid­
ance *
Nature has endowed man with his brain in order that he
shall not only be able to act, but know why he acta* According
to Smith man has forgotten how to reason*
At this point Smith might seem as pessimistic as Shaw's
Devil§. Laterj at the end of the third movement, Smith shall
§
Bernard Shaw,"Man and Superman"*
:
reveal some hope in theeiBgving of man and his distorted^ world.
Hamilton's awareness of what is going around might be. a
s t a r t . He is at least aware that things have changed when he
j&emembers h is . youths
The man recalled the gone forests of youth*.the
fin e —tailed foxes from the oak, chestnuts,, the
grandmother c liffs beachplummed anct the supplanting
cottager, the flux of people outward along the
shore, inexorable.. Too much. Too much? built upon)
the world o f his childhood.. Levittowns was the
potato: flats of central Long Island*. The Wantage
wootis encompassed by the Phipps and Browning
estates had become other-Developments,. The thoi^gliit
of Openness.
Filled lakes: and buried streams.
L a n d f il l , he stood on l a n d f i l l .74
Hamilton becomes aware that the land he is standing on is
man-made. He understands how drastically the whole landscape
has changed.
Bitterly, Smith himself remembers this changes
I was bona in New York Gity, but I lived on Long
Island for most of my childhood. It was, then,,
rural, with farmland and forest. Most is gone now?
I witnessed its very rapid disappearance in the
5 0 's.. My town,. North Bellmore,, was only/ eight
miles from the original Levittown, the world"s
fir s t gigantic suburban1housing development,, which
spread like a cancer;,. Thus I watched the k illin g
of natural beauty and the decline and decay of
New York C i t y .75
It is clear that within Smith's shamelessly romantic,
world-view the crime of the city is the loss of beauty.
Hamilton's vision of Earth Day is Smith"s ecological
protest in T rin ity . It is necessary to celebrate the beginning
of Spring in April,otherwise nobodjr w ill notice its
EAT SHIT
Eat shit
the steam of a pile driver pounding saying
Eat
shit Eat shit,
as on Earth Day
dandelions and cigaret stumps in the park
City Hall sooted gray, Hamilton's Earth Dayr
Dear Lord the Skyr
a vision? through? a yellow f ilte rrsunny moaning.;.
April,, First Annual Earth Day- 197©;.
*
The celebration is the reminder that New Yorlr has changed.
Manhattan is no, longer the land o f whales::
Steam enginesr Fathers
Fathers of all this ALL
t h a f's ALL:
Father of this ALL.
cars courts Pucci neckties secretaries smartly
bargains business bar a ir badassed bitches
The sh ift here is from an economy of "'encounter" with
Nature to that o f an economy of urbanized '"service, " a flight
from primary emotion/encounter/experience to the deriv.ative/syB>th e tic .
Manhattan is not a city based on heroes and arms but a
city based on automation and machines.
Hamilton sees a "blue jean flower c h il d ," a girl only a
few years older than his daugther
Carol. He feels attracted to
the girl but cannot "reach her,!* either physically or psychologi­
cally.,
She should be the answer, should ; she not? The flower
children should be a symbolic help to Smith in his quest for
the primary, but a ll he can feel is the presence of yet one
*
4
more -*butgrowth"‘ o f the c iv iliz e d . He wants the genuine but he
is confronted again with the Ersatz;
bouncing BRAless gently
flesh form
etched
tight against the white fabric
/cotton! T-shirt
transparency
deep rose through a white screen
sweet lo ll
blue jean girl flower child
a calm smile
she looked at him and he blushed.. He smiled
to her hurriedly (like a Pool,, he thought); and
looked away. He wanted to talk to her to reach
to touch /
he hurried p ast»™
^
He feels attracted to the girl but he runs away. Hamilton,,
as a businessman,
is marginal to the flower children and their
anti-technological movement* He is pro-ecological and at the
same, time anti-ecological* He is split like he was towards the
hiver he hates the hive but cannot do without its
flesh,
flesh, all this flesh
Ashamed* Only a few years older than CarolUnashamed.
Early woman, flowering
Carol would be
•
ashamed.. Private school. The Graces., What would she
be?
become? what
what would the world be for her?
stereothink
future
SPEED
79
Hamilton wants to get involved but he is ashamed*ashamed.of fee lin g youthful again, ashamed of having the same necessities
his daughter Carol does, ashamed of others' criticism, ashamed
of HIMSELF*
And yet Hamilton worries about the youngsters.. He cannot
act like them but fears for their future* As a matter of fact he
fears for the future of humanity without youthr
Carol,good g irl, believed in Ecology..Riding on a pony
Bicycles. J e t / travel
MOD
Population Control
Love Margaret,
What could ,we
what world
Smith believes in youth but, at this point of Trinity.
he does not trust the flower children's ecological movement and
he says it is not "natural
The w o rld is p a s s in g away
and a l l i t s l u s t s '- .
and a l l i t s th in g s
th in g s
speed sex
speed
p ills
n a r c o s is & barbed sleep
Sleep
" God the g re e n in g and the love
flesh
e a rth
day
crowd
ru b b in g
crowdrub
crowd
ALL
crowdALLerowdlust
lu sts
fr u s t s
---- DIS ----81
I n fa c t sp eed se x,
p ills ,
etc..,
are not n a t u r a l . The way
Sm ith f i n d s to c a l l the r e a d e r ’ s a t t e n t io n f o r t h is
i s g o ing back
to Psalm 9 0 r "G o d the g re e n in g and the love*".
When Sm ith wrote
"The A n t i - C i v i l iz a t i o n L e a g u e " he a l -
ready had h i s o p in i o n formed about youth:The young people may not know what the id e a l so c i e t y would b e , but they know they want lo v e*
peace and freedom: to do the b est they individually
e n v i s i o n . They have s6en what t h e i r p aren ts have
become and seen enough o f the world to know what
th ey d o n ’ t w an t. The so c ie ty seems to demand t h e i r
so u ls in exchange fo r it s sy n th tic rew ards.
S m i t h 's o p in io n about the Women's Lib-movement is s i ­
m ila r .. I t
is not The Way f o r i t is not a n a tu r a l way.. The female-
male r e l a t io n s h i p
is n a t u r a l and women - - i n name o f t h e i r own
freedom - — are paverting
i t . Women's L ib is not a way o f re ac h in g
freedom but a pro bable way o f l o s i n g it f o r the Wom en's L ib is
also a mass movementr
LIB
id i n us
L I B
servo
women
c h a n tin g
WOMEN'S L IB
c irc le
marching
sweatshirt
she
sloven
Decidedly unattractive
Hamilton decided-83-
Iilh=IDt what is the point here,
surrender to the S;uper-
Ega,. w revulsion 1with the grey interior world of our primitive
subconsciousness?'
Women*s Lib and'flower children1" ' s movements- are unna­
tural1^ Smith is crying for natural things, for things^ which re- present l i f e
..... lik e human excrements
Our shit,, I sing*
under
the girder and the wheel
a ll earth and life 1 sing
Smith seems to be very much against sophisticated
surfaces for they hide the dirt underneath.. The basic problems
and pollution in New York City/ remain in spite of the dressed
up people who run around- New York- remains the apotheosis of the
a lie n a t e d /fa ls e .
In comparison with this corrupted society Smith presents
a personal picture of the natural world. Toward the ends, of. "(B^y
o f The Earth "he arran g es words abstracted from the memoir- of
Francis Gary Powers,, the Uj-2 pilot captured by the Russians,
in order to suggest Powers '1 descent and his perceptions while
*
descending to earths
&
white
blossom
against the vast
orange
beautiful
of sky
the silence
the cold serene
no sensation of fallin g
parachute
very
small
hanging in the skyr
/
terrain
ro ilin g M i l s a forest a lake roads buildings
what
locDkfiKl like
m villager
pretty country
typical Americam s&ene:
lik e parts o f Virginia
It was spring in Russia
Francis Gary Powers
landed,
s plowed fie ld a traetox and twee mem
MAYlDAY' 1 9 6 0 .
®5
Cfeery Powers: thought he was landing in the United States
but,
in reality,, he wa& landing in) Russia. The United States
was once- like Russia, less developed* less industrializecT.Russia
becomes the pasi;orepl past of the United State s. Russia becomes
the early stages of capitalism!» Smith sees tire Russian! back—
warc&iess as a b lessin g .
After' this episode Smith reproduces the imitation o f a
child' s chalk: drawing on the sidewalk* a drawing which: was
signed: by Rebbeca Smith,, Smithes daughter-. It says*
FUEE THE MOGjNi
FIX THE EARTH! 86
The message is clears the United States should! not be
worried about space program» but in solving earth's problems?*
Smith is setting up a system o f v&Imss; in which the
mechanical is evil and what is good is the natural. Thus, the
space program.; is e v i l .
Following the standard' Romantic—Transcendental pattern
Smith has a strong tendency of seeing evil as external to him­
self and his protagonist. Margaret,. Hamilton's wife,, incarnates
the "gsdgeteer,"r which for Simith-, is the unnatural.. She is also
involved with surface-effects,, fond of technology',
the
mechanical
effects,, whatever that does not require her deep participation*
everything superficial "gaudy'"r
88
Our Trees
ghastly 'elm
Hamilton hated
the elm in his townhouse gardens
blue blue- glowing ghastly elm ''
the damn foodligilts.. MargaretI eeried h is nights» Like a scene-fl?»nni another
planet r Purgatory o t the Par Future* that"s right..
O f course it was all right in the day and popular
with guests at night»
" I loathe i t » "
"Our light show, Darling? 1 think i t ' s some mar­
velous electric- sculpture in fiberglass.."'
" I t makes the tree Something Unnatural»"’
"You are so s illy sometimes, Darling,, but I love
you"
Margaret,, arching,. Gat» Sensuous & arch,
Margaret of white» Artifice and flesh*. She made
h erse lf’ into a work of art» Parisian styles* at
body proud /
poise,: grace and breasts
ele3ctric elm
Margaret"s beauty
a gell
the man saw old oaks after ice storm»
Icy oaks in the sun»®?
The a r t i f i c i a l l y l i t elm is applied technology and
consequently it is bad? — — according to Staith''s system of values.
The thing in i t s e l f is good but the a r t if ic ia l context is bad»
When ffi^mi.Trhom encounters a rock band performing a song
about pollution he dislikes it for he thinks rock is urban,
e l e c t r if ie d and super-artificials
s POLLUTION POLLUTION onewordrock
&: roll,, liturgical,,
eLectric music
instruments amplified
lifie d
eletric s e x /
that beat like a n a r t ific ia l h eart/
fre« dancers
Stop & Go
like traffic
wearing hideous masks.
89
Smith'' comparers the standard,, monotonous rock: rhythisr
/
with the. city tra ffics Its "iioise" has invaded the traditional
,ecclesiastical' domain,. Mass haa been turned into a rock:. concerts
•>«
*4
The-Noise
.
hurt Hamilton's head* * Hé deemed it Agression^
The chanting dancers seemed in a trance.
Hock,, Stop.. Shake' " the fine-formed young dancers
moved mindlessly NOW M k e zealotB Now like zombies
Eife/D eath — zeal comb:' — Gry M f e dancing l iv in g
Dead — the heart mechanics
NOW. —' Hamiltom was puzzled.*
Smith believes teenagers use rock music? to punishi adults,
üè thinks this kind of music is agressive for it can be physically
harm ful. Smith also thinks the music is symptomatic of urban
alienations
Throomp! Throoanp the pulse in this man"s temples,
aching,, beating heart srsr hurt bombardmentrrrsrrc
circumstantial matter sensory,, like nature 'amplified
AB
incompréhensible
Blare
decibel despair
Score hope percentiles.
Smith lovés a ll encompassing ironyv That seems to plead
for total purity.. I f the priest is"impure{.' his ministratiens as
a priest are alsoJ^Lmpure. 11 The protestor must reach the purity
of the level of the content of his protest.
Smith equates Hardhat Day,. Earthday said Doomsdays
Hardhat Day
days
Doomsdays ^1
Earthday and a l l designed
His skepticism comes close to naturalisai in a? momentary
slip baclr into despair when he indirectly says l i f e is sickr
The we rewish' is upon u s .
a sickness in life Hamilton's- lifer
its e lf was sick
Martin Eden
inta tlie ocean
92
, Martin Eden is the'hero? of a rather autobiographical
novel by Jtecfc Hondon .. Smith alludes to the novel because Martin.
Eden*. a healthy minded, uneducated sailor who beaame a leading
w riter, desillusioned by his experiences in high) intellectual
society and increasingly afflicted? by a malaise-of civilizatieaj^
commits suicide at s e a a f t e r concluding that therei is; a sick: —
ness i n l i f e i t s e l f .
Ais it was said' before,this despair is momentary iin
Smith*'s Trinity
fbr* after all,, the bookr is a message orf opti­
mism and immediately after this laps« into pessimism rebounds
with the vitality^ o f nature—images centering around "ishad”1and
'" l i l a c s 1; " Very rich "te xtu re"'h ere * We're in the world of Melvillete
l ila c s in the C atskills* !Thoreau"s Walden lila c s im farmer house—
sites,, the lila c s of Whitmans
In Maine,, late spring at Northeast Harbor,, the
cottage o f the lilacs in the night that night*
orf conceptions Yes,, God'* conception*
Hamilton felt sure he knew* That night — the simple
wildness — must have been>
Ago.
fucks* work* fame future*
daughterwoman* Hamilton? felt l is t l e s s ,
a spent shad*
The shad’ were journeying
up the river to the Hudson Highlands*
more shad than people
in the city,, to' spawn1
in waves the generations of the shad
and the generations of man and the great May
run of the lila c 93
The "shad 11 are also symbols of vigor * Smith reinforces
this image of vigor
by talking about‘the 'run? of the l il a c "*
The largest shadi spawn in late May are called " l i l a c s "1 because
they come when lilacs blotrm..
91
Smith goes on playing with the word •"shad"' but in. a
different contexts
shad! rack:
M&: shadSP
shad 1 rooBi — How d M 1 it g®? Hamiltoar
d id n 't know much;
about popular music."ShadracBc, Teshach, AbecEnego r 1,1 QOid Petie:
answered1.
Hamilton realized that he had spoken:'oarsung aloud. Embarassing..
He put a dollar on the counter and left*
fee lin g Awkward.
"Siiadrack,.
iTeshach,.
Abednego,,:
are words from1a Negro
sp iritual that tells about the Jews who were threatened with)
burning in ancient Egypt because they would not worship any other
l
god than Jehovah. They were put in a- bonfire and did not die be—
cause they were worshipping the true god*
However Smith admits the spirit of Manhattan and its'
pollution are spreading around across the globes
OUR FORESTS
THE OCEAN IS DYINGr
reproduction of diatoms
Pho tcrsynthe s is
Union Square, greening
Spring
la la forsythia
and the flowering girls
loving a ll in greeno
The man thought he thought of sex more in
periods of stress
STRESS --- SEX -In times of stress, sex
stress sex
intense stress; -- desperarte
sex
Hamilton felt as though he had made an important
discovery .^
Here in the midst of an elegiac lament for a dying planet,
Smith suddenly couples "se x ” and "stress . " Because man is l i v i ng
92
in a (human)) zoo* his sex—l i f e , his l i f e in general* is more
fra n tic a lly active, and it is this very "Saetiveneas"1 that feed»
back: and accelerates the »ate o:f planetary destructions Bfenriltom realizes this frantic*
■*'
reproductiorn w i l l help
the species survive s-,
The tree- o f Heaven flourished always* in? ash &
rubble of inner city, its blighted; places and
Untended yards abandoned to that lush? redemptiom.
H&mil.tcm found curious poignancy in the lif e of
the vacant lot.. He thought of wild raspberries*
how they grow* best prospering in thé shelter o f
decaying homesteads and collapsed barns and sheds
and out o f rusty derelict vehicles in overgrown
pasture and along fallen fences and by the sills
and up through the Maine island where raspberries
burgeoned from the ruins of rude shacks which
were once fish in g camps. Raspberries in old ru in s.
Hamilton has a sort of vision/revelations He says to him­
s e lf s
"Learn ethics from the shad»"'
The shad running,heavy with roe*successions,
and the soon*lila<r culmination, the run of
the lila c shad.
Of Shad and men* I sing*
and a ll thé particles of lifeand of Hamilton who also
saw himself a particle of the successions
and, unspèaking, cried
Damn you.. I am- in fin it e . "
Q*77
In contrast with the "natural man", Smith introduces the
sociopath* Sipeckf the Chicago nurse-assassin^, the prototype
psychopath outsiderr
§
In the book dedicated to the axuthor Smith- wroter
"Speck is an appropriate name for a mass murderer Jar. the
Age- o f Mass Man".
93
■
,
The indeterminate particle determinated*
names
/
Speck:
d id murder in the techno
name
archetype
*.
mass murder mas« mair known as Speck.S i spite o f "'this fear', Smith seems to believe there is
hope* M ystically he sings?
Yea,
the in fin it y o f man and the power
of l if e beyond man
the wonder of w^ter
carbon & its compounds
o f sun' and genes* o f
determinating arid the
indeterminate particles*
o f that which xz always is
I sing, at the end & beginning of mysteriee*99
In a beautiful
paean to fe r t ilit y Smith trips back; to'
the past after Hamilton has realized 7 Nature is totally abundantr
Once upon Hudson"s shores* the namegiver
sucked—in a wind of flowers o ff the Jersey meadows*
He paused, that blunt captain, unmoving*
unknowing of his calm smile.. The pleasure ' '
of that landsmellI Pollen, resin,, leafy- earth*
So sweet one Dutchman did not know What
had greeted them* k mariner, wading,
with cutlass did-in a seven—foot sturgeom
for a common feast* The richest of riversj
Such sturgeon and the shad and striped bass surged
in the fertile meeting place* the r iv e r 's
slow sea-mingling? mackerel, silver hake & bluefiisiv
menhaden for fe r t ilize r , cod and herring
and anchovies upstream at the strong freshening
joined carp and sunfish and yellow perch in a long
/ wide bay*
More, an estuary fu ll of oysters,
blue crabs teeming in the shallows. Finding*
at that landfall* fame of mink and otter^
muskrat and beaver in hardwood highwilds
with many wolves and deer, easy heath hens
and huge wary cats, and such gabble of turkeys
hunters shot only for twenty-pound-plump,
0 Providence, all said For Everi.^0 ®
94
As elsewhere before,the picture of former Manhattan is
/
beautiful but never has it been so; m ajestically elaborated.The
lyricism with which Smith describes the splendor-of nature in
Manhattan precedes h is conclusion of "Day of The Earth" whicto
*
is also the fin a l page of Trinity^
Hamilton,
in his city* dreamed
the la n d 's last fragance.
Running a gauntlet of gorp,.shad s t i l l swarm >
in hordes upriver into: the future.
A man w illed them into the future.
He commanded the elements.
.
Of the numbers of shad and men,,
Of law and banking and the suns,
I sing wild raspberries and wosrld
Smith,, in a semi—reversal of previous positions* be —
comes sympathetic and sees a happy league of technology and
n ature. His last message is of ho-pe. The future w ill be what
present men w ill it to be- Man,, the highest work of Nature so
far,, shall command the future,, striving for self-awareness and
self-knowledge in the present.
Technology? and trade, after all* in Smith"s fin al ac ­
counting,. are as much an expression of Nature (the Nature of
man) as the l i f e —circle o f shad and whales.
4 „ 2 ..
Overall Themes and "Idea-Blocks "1
A& an epic,
Trinity presents the oldest struggle of" all
between good and e v il. It is a poem of confrontations,, between
young and old,, weak and strong,, idea and reality, unconscious
and conscious,
inner and outer world.
In Trinity
Iferry Smith explores unorthodox trinities
such as Humanity^ Earth and God/self,
community; and depejrsart^
a lized institutions.
Time iSL also Trinitarians past* present and conditional
fu tu r e . The shape o f the present is determined more by past
aspirations than by recent decisions while the shape- of the
future is- dependent on modern aspirations. The "werewishes" act
95
in the present and the dreams* act in the past in a radical! expe­
riment accomodating discontinuity and disruption.
The book i t s e l f also has three* movements* "Order fo r
B urial",. "The Grow tM of The World Trade-Center"'and "Dayro f -The
,
«
E a rth ". ,
.
,
In a. sense sp littin g Trinity in three is peculiar for
there are a number o f sim ilar themes which; are redundantly stressed
in a l l movements.
* ■ Symphonically repeated,, the leading mortifs throughout
the boolfe are?
(!)) Superior Order erf the last over the Present —
Romantically, Smith believes in a Golden Age. He
preaches a return to past when men were freea? of social restraint®
and government regulations. Smith is of the 'ccpinion that natural
righteousness? exists-;; T rin ity is his ecological appeal.
(2)) Attack: on technology,
commerce and industry -
Trinity is a criticism of industrial society and
its capitalistic overlords.. Smith describes mechanized man as a
machine-tender, a cog in
as. machine, a directed fragment in an
increasingly alienated system.. The city,.
New York* is a b ig
.
hive and city dwellers are bees swarming about their hive towers.
-s '
(3); Attack on the movements against technology", commerce and in­
dustry Smith shows a total withdrawal of b elief in the
entire society. He disbelieves in industrial society and!, Ijaart
the same time, he does not trust the "taovements" which want
to combat i t . Smitli is skeptical about ecological movements
which preach? technological solutions to technological proiblenus.
He does not accept the young rebels who combat noise pollution
with rock music. He does not approve of "flower children"’ who>
talk of the natural from inside drugged dreams.
(4) Mystic b e lie f in creative evolution and the strength of the
l i f e force —
96
Towards the end of Trinity there is another important
. theme which is not much.repeated but o f equal importance.. I t . i s
the mystic b e lie f in creative evolution and the strength of the
i i f e force- It is the confidence that man is approaching the
■*
lim its of ethereal conquest.. Along with the ultimate limits; of
the ^rational, a new man is coming to life*, a man who shall, imcarnate the s c ie n tific mind*, according to? modern Faustian concepts^
and represents
syncretic: melding of Humanism,
Smithy, with Arthur Clarkean optimism ( c f . The City and
The Stars )) sees the next step in evolution as w synthesis of
The Primitive and The Post-Indus t r i a l .
97
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
Notes^ an Trinity written by Smiths to the author- om
December 4 , 1979... "
.
^ Ekrry Smithy "Stones’",
Bbrirzon P rd s s, I97?9Jv P- 7*9*
♦
Me. The People
(New Yorks
^ ferry Sm ith, T rin ity (Nfew Yörks Hbrizon Press, 1975)»
P- 9* ,
^ Tffa-rry Sm ith, "The Universe is Not for Sale"', X-l
(New Yorks The Smith* 1976)), p.. 2271»
^Thomas Stearns E l io t , '"The Waste Land'", The, American
Tradition in L iterature (©rosset & Dunlap, 1977),v o l*2,p .ll86.
£L
Harry Smith,. Trinity;.. p* I I .
^ Harry Smith, "Toward Equinox'",
Me. The People» p.* 37'»
® Höarry Smith, Trinity., p . 12*
Q
E l i o t , ’"The Waste Land1", The American Tradition im
Literature«, p» 1187*
Smith,. Trinityr» p» 11»
^
Ibidem»
12 Ib i d »» p» 12
^ Comments on T rin ity written? by Smith in a copy dedicated
to: the author on May 4, 1980»
^
Smithy
Trinity, p . 12»
Ibid?» pw 13*
^
E l io t , "'The Waste L a n d ", The American Tradition?., p* 1189.
^
Smithy Trinity^
18
■
LO
I b i d » . p . 13 .
p . IT *
/
*i
Hkrry Smithy "Conscience and Consciousness o f War'1,.
NewsART (A p r . 1 5 * 1 9 7 5 ) * p . 23*
' 4"
■
*•
'
20 Hkrry Smithy "Death Song"'r The Early Poems (Michigamt
Ghost Dance, 1978)),. p . 1 .
■
Note from the e d i t o r on page 1 ,
The E a r l y Poems.
22
Merle" G u r t i, The Growth o f American Thought (New Ybarkc
Harper St Row, 1 9 6 4 ) , p . 1® 3.
2 3 I b i d . , p . 189*
24
John Hamilton,, e d „ ,
( New Y o rk ), v?.3, P- 207-8.
The Works o f Alexander H&milton\,
^
Smith, Trinity.- p.- 13*
^
Smith, "Conscience", NewsART. p .
^
Ibidem .
^
Sm ith, T r in it y , p . 1 3 .
29 I b i d .. p . 1 4 .
<♦
30 I b i d . . p . 1 7 .
3^ I b i d . .
p. 16.
32 Ib i d . . p . 1 4 .
33 I b i d . , p . 17*
3^ Ibidem^.
35 I b i d .. p . 19*
23 .
99
•^il'ililiam Shakespeare,, J'Hamlet"’, The Complete Works
W illia m ShakeST?eare (Londons Spring* 1 9 7 1 )* p* 976*
.37 Smith., T rinity* p» 319*
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
• *V
I b i d * . p*. 20*
Ibidem*
Ibidem *
I b i d l . -p* 28..
I b i d .^ p* 21.
Ibidem *
Ibidem*
Ibidem*
I b id * * p * 22*
Ibidem.
Ibidem*
49
T*S ..Elio t, ’'The Waste Land"* (The American Tradition:
in Literatu re* p* 1 1 9 0 .
50
51
52
Smith,. Trinity*pp* 22-3
Ib id ..* p * 24*
Ibid..* P- 23*
53 Ib id **
p* 24*
54
Ibid».., P * 25*
100
^
Comments on Trinity writtem by Smith on May 4,. 1980.
^
Sanitlty. Trinity?» p»
57
P- 29.-
58 Ibid».,
p . 31*
^
30'.
Ibid»» p» 26.
60 Ib i d »» p . 2«;.
fiT
Henry Adams* "The Dynamo and The Virgin"1* The Americans
ItesBflitigJa^&ni literature»pp. 621—2.
^
Smith,. Trinity?» p. 31*
63 Ibid. »p.. 33^
Ibidem.
65 Ib id .» p..34
^
Harry Smithy "West Battery",
^
Smith, Trinity, p . 34..
Me. The People, p.. 74*
68 _Ibidem.
.,
<«
•
69
y Ibid... p. 35
^
Ibidem.
^
Ibidem
Ibid..» p . 36.
I b i d .r p . 37-
^
75
Ib i d —. p * 3 &
/
Comment included in the dedicated copy of Trinity«.-;
»7/T
Smith,. Trinity^ p*
77
38.*
*
'
rbidem*
1& I b i d » p*39
79 Ib i d .,.,
^
81
40 *
Ibidem;.
Ib id » .. p„ 41
82
Harry Smithy
(Nov*,. 1968),. p* 6*
"The Anti-Civilizatiom League %
Smithy. Trinity?* p . 4 2 .
^
85
86
Ibidem*
Ib i d »
pp„ 43-4*
,
,
Ib i d * .. p* 46*
®7 Ib i d * .. pp* 47-8*
86
P.
53-
89
y Ibidem*
00
Ib id s. p* 54
931 Ibidem,
92 Ib id ** p* 59*
The Smith.
JiUZ
93 Ibid*,, p*
57*
94 Ibidemi
95^ Ib i d ..» p .
49*
96
Ib id ..» p* 58*
97 Ibidemv
98
Ib id ..., p* 59*
99 Ibidem»,
3100
3101
Ibid1,.* p» 60*
Ib id * » p* 61.
CONCLUSION
Prom everything that has been said in this dissertation
we may conclude that Smith's previous work a are a rehearsal
Trinity *s ideas..
for
■
Since h is early poems Smith had already? shown the Tho —
reaunian pledge to nature and the M elvillian apocalyptic view
J
of the Earth he presents in TrinitySmith remained basically the same.. In Trinity, as \ im
his earlier works,, he stresses
vl.
individualism; and presents a
strong fe e lin g against the taming o f the individual*
Trinityis a poetic re—statement of Sm ith's earlier
works,, now-written in a Whitmanesque lyrical tone*
In the fir s t part of Trinity Smitha presents the basic:
ideas of American Transcendentalismr he is pro—Nature, anti­
machine, anti-fflachine Age* He presents a bias against factories,,
a partial antipathy against industrialization and a fear of
eK2oil0 gicall disaster* He expresses his b elie# in Nature and glo­
r i f i e s "natural man.'!
From the middle on,. Trinity semi—reverses its previous
positions and presents a new and more complete vision of Man"s
destiny, where the agony between angrily rejecting and struggling
to accept industrial society is suspended.. Here''Smith introduces
*
the' Faustian man who shall command the elements in a future in
which technology w ill be part of Nature*
Based on aoareful reading we may say that 3l9tla-century
Transoaxlentalisn and the Neo-Transcendentalism of the- 20th century
are represented in Trinity* Heavily influenced by the American
literary past,Snith mystically believes in the creative evolution
and in the synthesis of The Primitive and The Post-Indust rial*
Trinity is the culminating point in Smithes work in the
sense that, for the first time,, in one single work* he achieves
a combining . balance of his masked selves. Nocturnal and dayv.
/
time "Smithness" emerge in a symphonic dissonance—consonance*
bringing out h is personal criticism and- compromise with pro *- ’ * #*
g ress. _
BIBLIOGRAPHY'
'
V
The Northern Anthology of English Literatu re.New
W.W.-Norton & Go»,. 1975..
N
‘
*-'
,
Abrams, M’. H .
■E>rkt
Beard, Charles and Mary.. The Rise of American C iv iliza tio n ». New
York:: MacMillan, 1 9 4 2 „
'
,
°
Blair, Walter et al»,. eds.. The Literature of the United States;»
Chicago v Scott* Foresman and Go»,. 19611»
.
Bodkin, Maud.. Archetypal, Patterns in Poetry: Psychological Studies
of Imagination-London? Oxford University Press, 1973«.
Bradley, Sculley* ed„ The American Tradition in Literature.. U.S-A..?.
Grosset & Dunlap* 1974..
Bixjoks,, Van Wyck and Otto E» Bettmann. Our Literary Heritage.New
York? E .P .D utto n © Go.., 1961»
Brown, Stuart Gerry.. Thomas Jefferson.. New York? Washington Press,.
1963Gurti, Merle- The growth of American Thought. New York? Harper &
How,. 1964 ..
Emerson, Ralph Waldo.. The Complete Essays- and Othea* Writings-,» Ed»
Brooks Atkinson» U.S,.A..r Modern Library* 1950»
Bb^^JEEUgfc»^ The Living Underground; i!:A Critical Overview» New York:
Whitston Press* 1978*
Fuller* Edmund &
Einnick» Adventures in American Literature»
New York? Hkncourt, Brace, Jovanovichv 1963»
Hamilton* 3ohn G» ed„ The Works of Alexander Hamilton^. New York*
1950
HUbbell,. Jay B.. ed. American Life in Literature.. New York? Harper
& Brothers Publishers,. 1951»
Jones, Howard Mumfoord- The Theory of American Literature» New York?
Cornell University Press* 1948»
Kostelanetz,. Richard-'“ The New York Literary Mob"* December». XV
(1973)
Iiucas* John and William Myers.."TJ^'The Waste Land *1 Today"* Essays
in C riticism 3 0 % * 2 (April* 1 9 6 9 )* pp*3i93—2ttSk*
NemeioV, Hbward* Contemporary^ American: Poetry* Voice o f America
*
\
Forunr lectures* Washingtons Forum*
'''•
♦
*
Pritchard?,. Williams. " 1 . ’ The Waste Band1' Today"* Essays in Grit—
icism XJEE«. 2 (April,, 1 9 69)* pp» 176—192»
•
t
'
Quinn* Arthur Hobson,, edf* The Literature of The American Peonies
an Historical srad C ritical Survey., New Yorks Appleton^,
- Century,. Gjrofts, Inc»* 1951)’
Busk,, Ralph Leslie * The L ife o f R.I.finersom. HJLS ..A.,« Columbia
Press, 1974»
Scherman, David: E„ and Rosemarie Redlich» Americas The Land and
Its W riters» New York:: Dodd,, Mead and Co** 319621*
Shakespeare,. William . The Complete Works* Londons Spring* I973U
Silveira,. Brenno.. Pequena História da Literatura Americana* São
Paulo^r Livraria Martins Editora* 1954*
Smith* Hàrry»"Con»ci©íHí«' and Consciousness of War"1
, NèwsART (Apri­
l s * 1975);
* Me.. The People* New Yorks Horizon Press* 1979________________.. Sonnets to P*.E*A..Jffat Arts End Books* 1979*
* Summer Womam. Mis Allegra Press* 1978.
'__________ .. "The Anti—C iv ilizatio n League"., The Smitte-10 (Nov.
19<?8).
_______________
* "The Attar of Roses"* The Smith* 14 (Jan . 1972),*
.____________ » The Early Poems* Mis Ghost Dane«,. 1978*
________________ * Trinity. New York; Horizon Press* 1.975*
_________________* ed* X—I.. Experimental Fiction: Pro.iect. New Yorks
The Smith* 1976*
Spiller* Rober4;E- et a l** eds. Literary History-of The United
States* New Yorks Collier* MacMillan*Ltd** 1963*
Stern,, Milton R.. and Seymour Li* Jiross* eds. American Literature
Survey« The American Romantics.. 1800—3b860» New Torkr .
The Viking Press,. 1 9 6 2 .
■'
,
i
*-
*
'
-■
» American Literature Survey. The SEwentieth Cetptury* New Yorkr The V i M n g Press* 1962..
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Henry Rtegnery Go..* 1967*
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a:
(Feb.1 1 9 6 8 );
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(May* 1 974)*
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Oscar C argill.
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■
* Walden and Civil Disobedience* Ed.Sherman
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v
*
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