Poetry Codex

American

Stephen Crane

1871–1900

Stephen Crane (1871–1900) was an American novelist, short-story writer and poet, born in Newark, New Jersey. He is best remembered for the Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895) and for stories such as "The Open Boat", and worked as a journalist and war correspondent.

The Black Riders and Other Lines, his first book of verse, appeared in 1895. Its short, untitled, numbered pieces in unrhymed free verse, often parables addressing God, institutions and the self, were unusual for their time and are often compared with Emily Dickinson's. Crane died of tuberculosis in 1900, aged twenty-eight.

Poems (104)

  1. I. Black Riders came from the sea
  2. II. Three little birds in a row
  3. III. In the desert
  4. IV. Yes, I have a thousand tongues
  5. V. Once there came a man
  6. VI. God fashioned the ship of the world carefully
  7. VII. Mystic Shadow, bending near me
  8. VIII. I looked here
  9. IX. I stood upon a high place
  10. X. Should the wide world roll away
  11. XI. In a lonely place
  12. XII. "and the sins of the fathers shall be
  13. XIII. If there is a witness to my little life
  14. XIV. There was crimson clash of war
  15. XV. "Tell brave deeds of war."
  16. XVI. Charity, thou art a lie
  17. XVII. There were many who went in huddled procession
  18. XVIII. In Heaven
  19. XIX. A god in wrath
  20. XX. A learned man came to me once
  21. XXI. There was, before me
  22. XXII. Once I saw Mountains angry
  23. XXIII. Places among the stars
  24. XXIV. I saw a man pursuing the horizon
  25. XXV. Behold, the grave of a wicked man
  26. XXVI. There was set before me a mighty hill
  27. XXVII. A youth in apparel that glittered
  28. XXVIII. "Truth," said a traveller
  29. XXIX. Behold, from the land of the farther suns
  30. XXX. Supposing that I should have the courage
  31. XXXI. Many workmen
  32. XXXII. Two or three angels
  33. XXXIII. There was one I met upon the road
  34. XXXIV. I stood upon a highway
  35. XXXV. A man saw a ball of gold in the sky
  36. XXXVI. I met a seer
  37. XXXVII. On the horizon the peaks assembled
  38. XXXVIII. The ocean said to me once
  39. XXXIX. The livid lightnings flashed in the clouds
  40. XL. And you love me
  41. XLI. Love walked alone
  42. XLII. I walked in a desert
  43. XLIII. There came whisperings in the winds
  44. XLIV. I was in the darkness
  45. XLV. Tradition, thou art for suckling children
  46. XLVI. Many red devils ran from my heart
  47. XLVII. "Think as I think," said a man
  48. XLVIII. Once there was a man
  49. XLIX. I stood musing in a black world
  50. L. You say you are holy
  51. LI. A man went before a strange god
  52. LII. Why do you strive for greatness, fool
  53. LIII. Blustering god
  54. LIV. "It was wrong to do this," said the angel
  55. LV. A man toiled on a burning road
  56. LVI. A man feared that he might find an assassin
  57. LVII. With eye and with gesture
  58. LVIII. The sage lectured brilliantly
  59. LIX. Walking in the sky
  60. LX. Upon the road of my life
  61. LXI. There was a man and a woman
  62. LXII. There was a man who lived a life of fire
  63. LXIII. There was a great cathedral
  64. LXIV. Friend, your white beard sweeps the ground
  65. LXV. Once, I knew a fine song
  66. LXVI. If I should cast off this tattered coat
  67. LXVII. God lay dead in Heaven
  68. LXVIII. A spirit sped
  69. The Wayfarer
  70. Hymn
  71. I. Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind
  72. II. What says the sea, little shell?
  73. III. To the maiden
  74. IV. A little ink more or less!
  75. V. Have you ever made a just man?
  76. VI. I explain the silvered passing of a ship
  77. VII. I have heard the sunset song of the birches
  78. VIII. Fast rode the knight
  79. IX. Forth went the candid man
  80. X. You tell me this is God?
  81. XI. On the desert
  82. XII. A newspaper is a collection of half-injustices
  83. XV. Once a man clambering to the housetops
  84. XVI. There was a man with tongue of wood
  85. XVII. The successful man has thrust himself
  86. XVIII. In the night
  87. XIX. The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top
  88. XX. The impact of a dollar upon the heart
  89. XXI. A man said to the universe
  90. XXII. When the prophet, a complacent fat man
  91. XXIII. There was a land where lived no violets
  92. XXV. Aye, workman, make me a dream
  93. XXVI. Each small gleam was a voice
  94. XXVII. The trees in the garden rained flowers
  95. Intrigue I. Thou art my love
  96. Intrigue II. Love, forgive me if I wish you grief
  97. Intrigue III. Ah, God, the way your little finger moved
  98. Intrigue IV. Once I saw thee idly rocking
  99. Intrigue V. Tell me why, behind thee
  100. Intrigue VI. And yet I have seen thee happy with me
  101. Intrigue VII. I heard thee laugh
  102. Intrigue VIII. I wonder if sometimes in the dusk
  103. Intrigue IX. Love met me at noonday
  104. Intrigue X. I have seen thy face aflame

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