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.”

Analysis, meaning and summary of Stephen Crane's poem In the desert

63 Comments

  1. lunari says:

    the bitter on this poem is a reference of the PEYOTE a plant wich growth in the desert and can teach you about yourself. allicinate

  2. Chris Hoffer says:

    I think that you are too into poetry and that if you liked it so much you would be reading it out of a book instead of on the internet

  3. Lindsey says:

    He is not eating his heart. He is eating OF his heart. I think that noticing that brings a whole new dimension to the poem…

  4. Philip says:

    I read a brilliantly written book called THE POETRY OF STEPHEN CRANE, by Daniel Hoffman, Columbia University Press, in which it is shown that this poem refers to the nature of Man: To sin and to be remorseful. If you love Crane’s poetry, as I do, you should look up this book. This is neither Crane’s Best poem, nor my personal favorite, but it is a superb bit of verse.

  5. William says:

    I think you guys are all dumb… lol u c.. the poem is talking aobut creature who admits that all our hearts contain sin… though he agrees to like it…. Figuratively speaking. Of course the creature is only a creature and doesnt include humans.. Though most people would also agree that our hearts are also swimming with sin..

  6. Patrick says:

    There is one inherent confusion in this poem that I cannot reconcile. I believe the creature and the speaker to be two sides to Crane’s self. This has been stated before so I will leave it at that. I also believe that the “eating” of the heart is a representation of the attraction of misery. It is all too common for humans to experience a loss and retreat into a “poor me” attitude that embraces sorrow instead of moving beyond it.
    Ok so back to the original conundrum. In this poem, does Crane take a stance? One one hand, you could assume that the creature’s bestial nakedness puts it on a lower, more primitive level of cognition. Thus it is a base reaction to embrace sorrow and refuse to move on. If this were the case, then Crane is saying that we should all move past our misfortunes and live. Then there is the opposite reading. Is Crane really saying that the world is a cruel, indifferent, and oftentimes hostile creation that breeds sorrow? And that embracing sorrow is the only possible reaction in a world that breeds constant misfortune?
    This is my quandary. Which position is Crane really taking? The fact that the poem ends on the creature’s words of woe seems to point to the 2nd interpretation. One would assume that if Crane wanted us to move past “eating our hearts” then the speaker would respond to the creature’s words. However, he does not. Is this conclusive proof? I don’t think so.
    Regardless it is a wonderfully sorrowful poem in either instance.

  7. Zach says:

    I believe that this poem clearly states that the creature is oveously a struggling 6th grader try to work ona poetry unit and he is eating his heart so he dies and never has to worry about that project

  8. elif says:

    Well,if it is possible to survive without having a heart then what is the use of it?Am I being too pragmatist or too weak to tolerate a heart beating as if it rebells?

  9. JJ Melendez says:

    I think this is good poem and i agree that the dog is eating his dog poo, and hes a bad little doggy now. Dogs are cool though.

  10. Nathaniel H. says:

    The heart is passion. The creature is our carnal nature and desire, and to eat the heart is to glutt oneself on his passion. When you do that, when you feast on your passion, it is bitter, bitter, but you like it because it is bitter and because it is your heart. The poem is a masterpiece. I think about it often.

  11. John says:

    I think the bestial creature is nothing more than a creature. I believe he is discussing pride. The creature is proud. He has a heart, and he likes it. It is bitter, true. All men are bitter, but all men are proud. Is the eating of his heart introspective? No, because he says “In the desert, I saw a creature.” He is not eating his heart, he is not necessarily bitter. It may mean no matter what man becomes, even a gangrel creature in the desert, he always has a heart. Whatever that may mean.

  12. Morgzin Richardsonz says:

    this poem is about eating dog poo. the dog thinks it tastes bitter but he loves eating his dog poo, especially other dogs poo

  13. Laura says:

    I think that this poem could possible be about a person who has lost everything because of his own doings. The desert symbolizes remoteness and desolation in his life, and his heart is all that he has left. He holds the heart in his own hands as if weighing it and eats from it. And when he likes the bitter taste of his heart, he likes it because he is taking account for his own sins and accepts it. He judges himself by what he knows of himself, and not by what others see of him, as it is emphasized when another person asks him how his heart tastes.

  14. Lori says:

    Beutiful…. i analize it as a man who is bitter.. who is bitter because he is lonely

  15. wes says:

    The poem has a strong mystical content. In just about every religion, there is the symbology of the desert as a place where the Sun (The awareness of the concious mind) burns away ignorance with the relentless light of its presence. In Jungian terms, the author is wandering (like Jesus or Siddartha) in a place where he is confronted with the fact that his spiritual troubles can no longer be laid at the feet of others, because the shadow(or “satan”) is the darker, or emotional part of our psychological nature. The author, in my experience, is confronting the bestial side of his humanity. Feel free to e-mail me on your thoughts on this interpretation.onesckmnky@netzero.com.
    P.S.: I am a hermetic/Jungian/mystical/Hanumaian

  16. mike j says:

    i think this poem is about a lonely person situated in a desert deprived of all humanily acqiutance like love encouragement happyness who resorts to embracing his own heartly bitterness through liking his weaknesses

  17. Alex says:

    I think jesse below me has hit the point EXACTLY. The desert is his place of complete aloness, drawn away from the world that so distracts us on an every day level. The mentions of himself (for I believe this is a autobiographical poem) as a “creature, naked, bestial” show that he has dropped all of the norms put in place by society and civilization, and has gotton down to his essential, tru “humaness”. The eating of his heart is truley allowing himself to delve into his own mind, which is not sujested lightly here considering that he choosing eating as the means (eating being a very intimate way of intaking in something. The friend reference shows the first sign of self acceptance, as he is abvoulsy talking to himself, although it may be two different sides corresponding. And the heart being bitter for me shows that he has overcome ignorant childhood notions of a happy endning, and has come to the realization that the world isnt a very happy place, that it is in fact “bitter”. But he would gladly take his revelation and introspective over ignorance on the fact, and thus he “likes his heart because it is bitter”. My favorite poetic composition ever.

  18. jordan says:

    just a thought: he eats his heart to remind himself that he is alive, and although he is in a bleak, blank area, the proof of existance is all he needs.

  19. bill shannon says:

    i think the poem is about envy. the creature is eating his heart out.

  20. Jesse says:

    i think the fact that he is naked in the desert suggests that he is all alone, completely revealed emotionally to the world; he has nothing to hide and nowhere to hide it. also i the ‘eating of his heart’ portrays more a sense of introspection than self-mutilation. i think he sees his faults but loves and is proud of himself despite them.

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