Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Lynda Hull’s "Crossing, 1927" captures the liminal space of a transatlantic voyage, blending the personal, historical, and mythological in a narrative imbued with longing and introspection. The poem juxtaposes the tangible experience of crossing the Atlantic with the ethereal landscapes of memory, imagination, and desire. Hull’s richly textured language and intricate imagery create a meditation on movement, arrival, and the illusory nature of destinations, both physical and emotional.

The poem begins by establishing the ship as a “floating city of substance, of ether / and haze,” suggesting both the physicality and ephemerality of the voyage. The description of the liner cutting through the “cold turquoise” sea conveys the awe and grandeur of the crossing, but also hints at the alienating vastness of the ocean. The speaker’s act of writing a letter on “blue onionskin” evokes the fragility of communication and the delicate thread connecting her to home, even as she moves farther away. The repetition of “Paris, the radiant destination” underscores the allure of the city as an idealized goal, a symbol of cultural and personal fulfillment, yet its radiance is tinged with the speaker’s uncertainty and self-awareness.

Hull interweaves historical and literary allusions to enrich the narrative. The mention of “Millay” (likely Edna St. Vincent Millay) reflects the speaker’s aspiration for reinvention, as she muses about changing her name to “Violette.” This desire to adopt a new identity aligns with the Jazz Age ethos of transformation and escape. Similarly, the reference to “Tristan and Iseult” introduces the theme of romantic longing and unattainable love, casting the speaker’s journey as a modern echo of this mythic tale. The “chill current” and “Cornish coast” evoke the lovers’ tragic separation, mirroring the speaker’s own oscillation between anticipation and apprehension.

The poem’s sensory richness conveys the layered experience of the voyage. Hull describes the “lingerie frothing from steamer trunks” and “cut iris on nightstands,” blending opulence with intimacy. The ship becomes a microcosm of human desires and contradictions, as seen in the “grand ballroom” where champagne flows and a mynah bird disrupts the revelry with its “bloody pack of knaves” outburst. This surreal detail encapsulates the collision of elegance and absurdity, a hallmark of the Jazz Age’s exuberance. Yet, the speaker questions the purpose of this “vast grand fling”—“Beauty? A form of love or devotion?”—suggesting a deeper yearning beneath the surface glitter.

The physical and emotional vertigo of the crossing is vividly rendered through Hull’s imagery. The ship’s motion is likened to a “roller coaster,” evoking both exhilaration and unease. The speaker recalls a childhood memory of a white roller coaster, connecting past and present through the shared sensation of “stark delicious vertigo.” This recurring motif emphasizes the cyclical nature of longing and the inability to fully arrive at a sense of completion.

The rain and mist that obscure the sunrise symbolize the uncertainty of arrival. The speaker’s solitary presence on deck contrasts with the earlier scenes of communal revelry, highlighting her introspection. She identifies herself as a “minor jazz-age duenna,” an outsider observing the fleeting grandeur around her. The ship’s liminal space—“a floating city of ether and haze”—parallels the speaker’s internal state, suspended between past and future, self and other.

The poem culminates in the speaker’s meditation on time and desire, framed by the myth of Tristan and Iseult. The “black sail, white sail” ambiguity reflects the tension between hope and despair, presence and absence. The speaker reflects on “time the way a lover always will,” suggesting that the act of longing is inseparable from the human condition. The repetition of “Paris, the destination” underscores the illusory nature of fulfillment, as the speaker realizes that “I will never arrive.”

Hull’s "Crossing, 1927" is a poignant exploration of the thresholds between places, times, and selves. Through its lush imagery and intricate layering of themes, the poem captures the transitory beauty of the voyage, while probing the deeper currents of longing, identity, and the human desire for transcendence. The great liner’s passage becomes a metaphor for the journey of life itself—a continuous movement through “glorious, numbered hours” that can never quite resolve the tension between what is sought and what is found.

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