Summary: Publisher Summary 1 This study examines Hart Crane’s canonical ambitions in The Bridgeand argues for a  new species of epic, “the modernist epic,” which also includes Pound’s The Cantos, Eliot’s The Waste Land, and Williams’s Paterson.  It offers a close reading of The Bridgeas a hybrid of lyric and epic modes.  Crane’s sublime and history converge in a complex synthesis of form and ideas.  The study reconceives Crane’s achievement by locating him in an intertextual system of production while also recognizing his poetic making of self. Yet in this work Crane assumes a greater political presence than much commentary has entertained.   Publisher Summary 2 This book is a study of Hart Crane's centrality to the modernist canon and of a new species of epic.   Publisher Summary 3 This study examines Hart Crane's canonical ambitions in The Bridgeand argues for a聽 new species of epic, "the modernist epic," which also includes Pound's The Cantos, Eliot's The Waste Land, and Williams's Paterson.聽 It offers a close reading of The Bridgeas a hybrid of lyric and epic modes.聽 Crane's sublime and history converge in a complex synthesis of form and ideas.聽 The study reconceives Crane's achievement by locating him in an intertextual system of production while also recognizing his poetic making of self. Yet in this work Crane assumes a greater political presence than much commentary has entertained.