The Poetry of Stephen Crane Trivia Quiz

Answer: Black Riders and Other Lines

"The Black Riders and Other Lines" was published in 1895 by Copeland & Day. "War Is Kind" was published a year later. "Lyrical Ballads" is a collection by Wordsworth and Coleridge. "And Still I Rise" is a Maya Angelou collection. "A City Winter and Other Poems" is by Frank O'Hara. Stephen Crane preferred to refer to his verse as "lines" rather than "poems."

Answer: They were usually written in sonnet form

Stephen Crane's poetry was considered unconventional for its day because it lacked either meter or rhyme. The poems did not have titles, and thus they are typically known by their first lines. Stephen Crane's poems were usually short, and many of them did not even use stanzas. Very few have refrains. His poems were not included in anthologies until some years after his death.

Answer: His own heart

The poem reads:

"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.'"

This poem was included in "The Black Riders." Stephen Crane once wrote that although he knew he "ought to be thankful" for the success of "The Red Badge of Courage," he was actually "much fonder of my little book of poems, 'The Black Riders'."

Answer: war

This is one of Stephen Crane's most famous poems, and it was often included in school anthologies in the late 20th century. The tone is bitingly satirical. It is one of only a few of Crane's poems that makes use of a refrain, in this case the repetition of "War is kind." The poem opens:

"Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind."

This poem appeared in Stephen Crane's second collection of poery, "War is Kind", published in 1896.

Answer: victim

This poem was published in "Black Riders and Other Lines". A mere three lines, like many of Crane's works, the poem packs a punch. Crane, who was born in 1871, was a ninth (surviving) child. he attended Syracuse University but left it in 1891. He had already published several articles by the age of 16 and went on to become a writer in the Realist tradition.

Answer: two

Stephen Crane published two volumes of poetry, "The Black Riders and other Lines" and "War Is Kind". During that same four-year period, he also published three short story collections and five novels.

One of his most famous short stories was "The Open Boat", which was inspired by his own experience. Once, while Crane was in route to Cuba, his ship sank, and he and several others were left adrift in dinghy for over a day before being rescued.

Answer: truth

The poem continues:

"Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife.
'Well,' he mumbled at last,
'Doubtless there are other roads.'"

Though Stephen Crane may have struggled with his Christian upbringing, it probably also influenced him. This poem is somewhat reminiscent of Christ's admonition in Matthew 7:14: "Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

This poem was published in Stephen Crane's collection "War Is Kind".

Answer: I exist!

"A man said to the universe:
'Sir, I exist!'
'However,' replied the universe,
'The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.'"

Though his parents were Methodists, and Stephen Crane was immersed in Christianity in his childhood, he struggled with his faith and his poems display that. Maddie Gallo writes in "God is Cold - A Religious Observance of Stephen Crane's Poetry" that his lines display "a passionate questioning of God's existence and whether God, if He exists, is evil, benevolent, or simply removed from mankind. At the same time, Crane also scorns mankind's hypocritical representation of religion."

Answer: sage

This poem was included in "The Black Riders and Other Lines". Stephen Crane's first novel was "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets", which was published in 1893. It was the Civil War novel "The Red Badge of Courage", however, published in 1895, that brought him widespread literary acclaim.

Answer: some little blades of grass

Once asked the question, the little blades of grass "began eagerly to relate / the merits of their lives." All except one, that is:

"This one stayed a small way behind
Ashamed.
Presently God said:
'And what did you do?'
The little blade answered: 'Oh, my lord,
'Memory is bitter to me
For if I did good deeds
I know not of them.;"
Then God in all His splendor
Arose from His throne.
'Oh, best little blade of grass,' He said."

If you answered gnats, you may be thinking of a poem by Rumi where some gnats came before Solomon's throne to lodge a complaint against the wind, and Solomon summoned the wind and they were blown away.

Stephen Crane died young, on June 5, 1900, at the age of only 28, after experiencing repeat pulmonary hemorrhages.