Exploring Religious Elements I Essay
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Reading selected poems of Stephen Crane brings to light the unique perspectives this young writer had on religion and moral values. In a quest to more fully understand Crane and his ideas, beginning with a brief biographical sketch is appropriate. Born November 1, 1871, in Newark, New Jersey, Stephen Crane was the fourteenth and youngest child of a Methodist minister. Young Crane grew up quickly with the advent of several transitions in his life including the loss of his father at age nine and three separate family relocations. Absolutely bristling with natural writing talent, Crane attempted university life twice, once at Lafayette and again at Syracuse, only to terminate his studies early on both occasions. After this brief academic tenure, Crane went to work as a journalist with extremely limited success. His acclaimed writing style, while hailed as brilliant in later years, was not ideal for factual newspaper columns. It was during this time of poverty in Crane's life he developed much of his cynicism and artistic wit while living in the slums of New York. Eventually, Crane's masterpieces Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and The Red Badge of Courage gained him enough attention to garner a steady job as a feature war reporter for the New York Tribune. Growing up in strict Methodist household, Crane was subject to his parents' views on religion and faith. Even though he had no formal philosophical education, it was this mix of uncompromising Christian background along with Crane's experiences of the streets of New York and the war-torn battlefields of Turkey and Mexico that caused him to form his often critical and always cynical attitude towards God and organized religion in general. His interesting views on the subject of religion are spattered amongst his various works, but perhaps the most vibrant and concise examples of Crane's philosophical existentialism occur in his poetry through various personas. The following paragraphs examine three poems in Crane's compilations The Black Rider and Other Lines (1905) and War is Kind (1899) with the intention of exploring the man versus god and other religious elements contained within.
In "A God in Wrath," Crane verbally assaults the reader with reverberating waves of cynicism especially revealing and powerful in a poem of such short length. Crane struggled from an early age with the "masses" approach to organized religion, and his mother's focused guidance had only the reverse intended effect. Crane believed in grasping the reality in life, and certainly the faith and blind hope necessary for religious values did not appeal to this fast-paced writer. "A God in Wrath" addresses the seemingly ridiculous mindset held by the religious populace that everything God does is wondrous and right while men are all wicked. In the poem, Crane doesn't even refer to the immortal being as God, rather he describes "a god in wrath." This can only further point to Crane's irreverence. The poem tells of an angry god who is furiously beating a man. The man struggles fiercely against the god, but apparently only manages to nip at the heels of the great being. It is unclear what the origin of the struggle is, or more importantly, who began the uproar. This is important because Crane does not attempt to place blame on the man or the god, only to highlight their struggle and evaluate the response people have to it. Even the best of friends has quarrels, and the struggle is not nearly as important as the reaction it garners. Crane writes that "all people came running" to witness the fantastic confrontation, and upon viewing the struggle everyone immediately condemns the man and praises the god. This is the crux of the poem. The people do not ask questions or think as individuals. Instead, they extrapolate from previous knowledge and automatically curse the man as "wicked" and react with awe at the power and good of this "redoubtable" god. This is what Crane is criticizing-the "follow-the-crowd" mindset that deprives people of their individual good sense and ability too make personal decisions. Crane brilliantly demonstrates this criticism to organized religion while perhaps personally exploring his own relationship/struggle with God. Crane never really accepted his family's strong religious beliefs, and another perspective of the poem sees the author as the "wicked" man struggling against conventional religion. With this line of thought, the people watching the struggle could certainly be his family as they disapprove of the youngest Crane's nonconformist attitude. One thing is clear; the poem is not favorable to the "people." Whatever current interpretation desired, the important central message centers on Crane's sarcastic and unfavorable look at those involved in religion who do not think and experience for themselves.
Another poem, "The Tree in the Garden Rained Flowers" displays large measures of sarcasm and a general attitude of disparity in a thinly disguised...
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