His ambition to synthesize America was expressed in "The Bridge" (1930), intended to be an uplifting counter to Eliot's "The Waste Land". The Brooklyn Bridge is both the poem's central symbol and its poetic starting point. Crane found a place to start his synthesis in Brooklyn. Arts patron Otto H. Kahn gave him $2,000 to begin work on the epic poem. When he wore out his welcome at the Opffers', Crane left for Paris in early 1929, but failed to leave his personal problems behind. His drinking, always a problem, became notably worse during the late 1920s, while he was finishing "The Bridge".