Once there was a man —
Oh, so wise!
In all drink
He detected the bitter,
And in all touch
He found the sting.
At last he cried thus:
“There is nothing —
No life,
No joy,
No pain —
There is nothing save opinion,
And opinion be damned.”

Analysis, meaning and summary of Stephen Crane's poem Once there was a man

2 Comments

  1. Joshua says:

    I think Crane is adopting an incredibly pessimistic view of life in this poem; that there is no good, beauty, etc. It reminds of Wlliam Hazlitt’s On the Pleasure of Hating.

  2. Nimal says:

    what a clever poetical way of asking whether (for you/me) “is the glass 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?” – we have nothing but our opinions but THAT is what makes the difference to our lives; the ‘wise’ man was technically speaking, correct though! Correct but not right!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Stephen Crane better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.