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. Boris says:

    Poem does not compare anything.
    Nothing is better than something else.
    It is just how it is.
    Acceptance of the morbid nature, insanity, emptiness and still a kind of comprehension that all that belongs to individual and there is no body else to blame.
    A man is carrying a scars on its own face.
    He is eating he’s own heart.

  2. Peter C. Langella says:

    Better to be bitter, an individual, and free, than live a life of conformity/luxury.

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