In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said: “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter – bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart.”
In the desert
Analysis, meaning and summary of Stephen Crane's poem In the desert
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I think that he is on the edge of hiding his heart. He is trying to devour it to conseal it. He is naked be cause he feels exposed to some one or some thing. His heart is bitter because he dislikes some thing he has done or himself. I think he feels alone because he is in the desert and he is not with anyone. A beautiful work, from an exellent artist.
it’s a great poem, is it really all that neccessary to critique it online? do you people really get that big of a kick out of sounding smart? (or trying to…) I mean, Stephen Crane is great, let’s just read his poems, become deeply effected on several emotional levels and go through life unknowingly altered, there’s no need to bring poetry terminology into the whole thing!
This is a beautiful piece of work. The first thing i see, though, is the desert. This ‘creature’, who we all know to be a person, is trapped in a bleak wasteland of his own soul. Not Hell, as heat is never mentioned, but dry and dusty and mostly isolated (probably by choice).
Secondly, obviously, the ‘creature, naked, beastial,’ (l. 2) does represent someone who has been stripped of all social refinement, and comes to us as a primitive. Holding his own heart in his hands, as opposed to someone else holding it (as someone might tell a lover they do) shows this man’s control over himself and his emotions.
Now the big thing: This fellow is not being self-destructive. The narrator never said that he ATE his heart, only that he ate OF if, or tasted it, as it were. He took a small sampling of it and found it bitter, which was to his liking. Bitterness was this fellow’s self-made shield, or wall, to keep himself safe and to keep others, like the narrator, at a distance.
This is a poem about safety and isolation, and, yes, probably cowardice and stubbornness, but, to go against the popular opinion, not self-destruction and abuse.
a cynic must maintain that his/her cynicism is true – this is the creature in the desert, the cynic who has made it (or it has all become) reality, proof, truth!
Everyone says this poem is about self-destruction, but I think it is really about liking yourself in spite of your flaws.
The poem “In the Desert” by Stephen Crane is about him or someone he knows maybe. It’s about this one guy in a desert without any cloths. That means that he has nothing left in life, he is striped from everything. Then somebody asks him “is it good my friend”, and he answers “It is bitter – bitter, but I like it, because it is bitter, and because it is my heart.” I thank that means his heart is his life and he thanks he is bitter, has nothing else left in his life, and he likes it, and accepts it.
I encountered this poem when I was in my early 30s (I’m in my early 70s now)at a time when my life situation had taken a sudden spiral downward into despair resulting from multiple and almost simultaneous losses. From that place of emptiness and confusion, I found in the metaphor courage, hope, and strength to accept “what is”, to rebuild, and to distinguish my Life from my “life situation”……Bitter or sweet, it Is my heart, my Life. And I like it!
firstly, ALL HAIL STEPHEN CRANE! secondly, my thoughts.
this poem has become the offical poem of the year in my english class. not only has everyone memorized it, but is all too eager to perform their dramatic interpretation. I don’t think a single one of them has put any thought to it’s meaning.
Thanks to my lovely family, i have inherited the blessing of manic depression, and now that i am reasonably sane, i can recognize perverted thoughts and relate to this poem. When you have depression, you become so comfortable with self-bashing and mutilation, that you actually would rather stay there then put in the effort to drag yourself out. Some people cant understand this mindset at all, but if you have depression you know exactly what i, and this poem, are talking about.
it dont understand what it means! it seems pretty wierd to me. but i wouldnt know anything about it.
who knows
This poem is about self destruction or self sabotage. All of us will meet people like this. I’ve worked with a few and perhaps even been one. The character in the poem is naked and bestial because Crane is speaking of a man stripped of showey civility. He is speaking to the raw man. The man is destroying himself (by eating his heart) and when the passerby asks about the taste the man admits that it is bitter, as self destruction really is. But the man knows no other way. He is comfortable with chaos and destruction in his life. It is all he has ever known. He knows that it is bitter but likes it because it is all that he has to offer to the world and to himself. It is who he is. He must force himself to like the taste of his own destruction because to reject it would be admitting irrelavance or invisibility in the world. He hates that more than the pain of self destruction becuase rejection is what formed him. He has become self destructive because he has been rejected. In real life this is the wife who stays with the abusive husband. This is the teenager who steals bigger and bigger things until he finally gets caught. In the corperate world this is the man who causes discord with everyone around him until he finally gets fired. They are comfortable with chaos and destruction and yet they hate it and dream of success or freedom. They eat it though it is bitter and though it means death.
I’ve worked with this poem quite a bit throughout the years for different reasons, but I’ve never encountered this before: I have recently seen copies of this poem under the title “The Heart”. Results for this same poem came up when I checked both titles online. Does anyone know what the story behind this?
in this poem, i think that Crane is trying to tell us that he has a bitter heart and he is not willing to change that fact.if you have any comments to add to this please write me!
What Sartre called bad faith was caving to the desire to over-simplify one’s condition, and choose a radical self-destruction or self-aggrandizement over living ordinarily and not letting it get to you. In the Firesign Theatre a lieutenant in the sceond world war is appalled to distraction, and starts saying he is going to go out and Kill kill kill — hunbg on the word kill like a horrific ghost– and a sergeant says, “Aw, don’t let it get to you, Lieutenant!” So When Crane asks “Is it good?” I think he’s suggesting that the guy makes his own desert and that eating his heart is a self-obsessed form of morbid narcissisism. But I may be projecting.
If a person doesn’t want to change for themselves then they will never change. A man with a bitter heart will sometimes find it very pleasant to be who he is and to live how he lives. The poem “In the Desert” by Stephen Crane compares a man’s actions to what is in his heart. The man described in the poem is drowning in isolation and misery. The man feels more like a beast rather than an actual human. He considers himself to be friends with the beast who lives in him. The speaker asks, “Is it good, friend?” and answers himself using the other person that lives in his heart. The man probably acts in a beastly manner and isn’t someone that one would want to meet in a dark alley somewhere. The man doesn’t want to change who he is because he can’t help the way he feels about life. He knows that his heart has grown bitter over time; however, he doesn’t want to change his heart. The man sits and dwells in self-pity for himself even though he doesn’t have to. He chooses ease instead of just doing something worthwhile in his life. The man could develop a heart full of peace even though he feels it is easier to accept the way he has grown to be. He is aware that he could choose to change his heart; nevertheless, he doesn’t want to. The man replies, “It is bitter — bitter– / But I like it” (7-8). The man likes who he is so much that he holds his heart in his hands and eats some of it so that he can actually taste the bitterness in his heart. Stating why he likes his heart, the man says, “Because it is bitter– / And because it is my heart” (9-10). He chooses to be content with the fact that he has a bitter heart; then, he chooses to dwell in the dark place that his heart has placed him in. The man feels that he has to settle with who he is; otherwise, he wouldn’t have anything left. He dwells in all of his emotions that keep him in a dry, ancient place. The man represents many humans who dwell in pity and choose to keep a bitter heart. He represents humans who allow a bitter heart to consume them instead of allowing a bitter heart to change into a peaceful heart to fulfill them. No one can change their hearts unless they really want to change for themselves.
The creature is of course a miserable human being who feels like a beast, perhaps acts like a beast and who has unquestionable been hurt badly in his life.
His heart is bitter… he is eating his heart out… he is alone and feeding off the only thing he has left… his own misery and bitterness. He revels in this in the dark way that we all do when we are reveling in our own sadness or anger or depression.
It is a beautiful, wonderful poem
i meant 2004 world series
the creature he sees is a red sox fan,might even had been i, of course that was before 2003 world series in which i reply; the creature was from the evil empire, a yankee fan there after evermore
i think that the creature of course could be human, afterall humans are creatures too. and the creature eating his heart is of course liking it because it is his heart, because it is him and all that he is and why would he not like his heart. although he knows he is bitter he still likes the way he is and is not willing to change who he is just because his heart is the way it is.
Stephen Crane was poem is more symbolism, the creature represents a human. It is heating its heart but yet it likes it, which i think represents a human destroying himself in the inside but not even knowing it and still continues to eat away. His heart is bitter, so a bitter heart consumes bitterness, but a heart set for goodness and holyness will prosper the heart instead of destroying it