Stephen Crane Poems
The Wayfarer
I Saw a Man
I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said,
"You can never -- "
"You lie," he cried,
And ran on.
Think As I Think
"Think as I think," said a man,
"Or you are abominably wicked;
You are a toad."
And after I had thought of it,
I said, "I will, then, be a toad."
The wayfarer,
Perceiving the pathway to truth,
Was struck with astonishment.
It was thickly grown with weeds.
"Ha," he said,
"I see that none has passed here
In a long time."
Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife.
"Well," he mumbled at last,
"Doubtless there are other roads."
I Met a Seer
I met a seer.
He held in his hands
The book of wisdom.
"Sir," I addressed him,
"Let me read."
"Child -- " he began.
"Sir," I said,
"Think not that I am a child,
For already I know much
Of that which you hold.
Aye, much."
He smiled.
Then he opened the book
And held it before me. -Strange that I should have grown so
suddenly blind.
War is Kind (1899)
Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The unexplained glory files above them,
Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom-A field where a thousand corpses lie.
Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of the slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
1. In stanzas 1, 3, 5 of “War is Kind,” the speaker addresses the lovers, children and
mothers of soldiers killed in war. How is the image of war presented in the rest of the
poem? In what way is the refrain, “War is kind,” severely ironic?
2. What does “I Saw a Man” imply about the pursuit of the impossible? What does the
pursuer’s response, “You lie,” imply about the use of reason where the irrational is
concerned? In what way is the speaker’s attempt to stop the pursuer as impossible and as
futile as the pursuing the horizon? What do you think? Should we pursue the impossible?
3. “The Wayfarer” is about a person who travels on “the pathway to truth.” What is implied
by the fact that the pathway is “thickly grown with weeds”? What does the metaphor of
each weed as a “singular knife” imply about the nature of the truth?
4. What does “Think as I Think” suggest about the speaker’s attitude toward conformity and
nonconformity? Given the choice, would you rather “be a toad”? What would “being a
toad” say about you?
5. In the last lines of “I met a seer” the relationship between the seer and the speaker
changes. First, why does the Seer smile? Second, list the DOZENS of possibilities why
the child has gone blind.