The sage lectured brilliantly.
Before him, two images:
"Now this one is a devil,
And this one is me."
He turned away.
Then a cunning pupil
Changed the positions.
Turned the sage again:
"Now this one is a devil,
And this one is me."
The pupils sat, all grinning,
And rejoiced in the game.
But the sage was a sage.
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Comments
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I believe that this poem is about the duality in us all; even the wisest sage can have some devilish tendencies. We all have a capacity for both good an evil, and the sage is far wiser than his students in that he sees that the pictures are one and the same, for within each human is both the devil and the sage.
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philophant,
I'm not quite sure what you're saying in this critique.
Is it that in this particular poem, Crane was equating man to the devil? It seems to me that the sage is in no way stupid, but rather deeply wiser than the students. By saying 'the sage was a sage', Crane is certainly implying that he possess a certain amount of wisdom. To be able to humbly acknowledge the fact that every man, even he, has the devil within, and to do so in spite of his devilishly behaving students is an act of utter maturity and wit. -
Stupid sage...that's the message Crane's trying to get across *is grim* Well Crane, too bad you're dead. A good many people need to be reminded how stupid they are. Thank heaven, you knew you were one. After all, the man who says "God, I thank thee that I am better than this man" is a hypocrite. Safer to say, "God have mercy on me, a sinner." This, again, sorry for the humble connection, Crane, reminds me of my poem, The Most Profitable Prayer of Them All.
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