The Poems of Stephen Crane

I barely remember our high school reading of “The Red Badge of Courage”, and that is probably a good thing, because I didn’t want anything to interfere with my enjoyment of Crane’s poetry. I never knew there were poems, and I was pleasantly surprised to read these. They are short, but certainly not sweet, and in my opinion, they are petite masterpieces of the naturalism and honesty he tried to portray in his work.

They are very dark and sometimes a little scary, but then, they are intended to show how man is often just part of the world, often a victim, having no more importance than anything else in it. My favorite is “A Man Said to The Universe”, in which a man finds out that he is not important just because he exists; the universe owes him no obligation because of his existence. It does serve to remind all of us that we are all mere mortals on this rock and we should be mindful of our place; we are no more important than anyone or anything else simply because “we are”. I also liked “A Man Feared That He Might Find an Assassin”. One man fears he might find his killer, one fears he might find his victim. We know that one will find the other first, and so do they. It is very short, very dark, and very thoughtful. Who was the most fearful? In a way, I think the assassin was the most fearful, because he would have to live with himself and the sin of his misdeeds afterwards. That kind of guilt twisting through you, I think it might last longer than the quick death of an assassin.