God lay dead in heaven;
Angels sang the hymn of the end;
Purple winds went moaning,
Their wings drip-dripping
With blood
That fell upon the earth.
It, groaning thing,
Turned black and sank.
Then from the far caverns
Of dead sins
Came monsters, livid with desire.
They fought,
Wrangled over the world,
A morsel.
But of all sadness this was sad —
A woman's arms tried to shield
The head of a sleeping man
From the jaws of the final beast.
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My take
From guest Nicolas Davila (contact)
“God Lay Dead in Heaven” describes Cranes distaste for the people on the planet and how we will end up destroying ourselves. I feel this way because of Stephen Cranes background and the messages he conveys in his writings. He seems to have a very large hatred for war and what it means. I feel as if this story describes the end of the world by our own doing. The end of the world is described when God dies and the lines following it describe his fall, “Angels sang the hymn of the end;/Purple winds went moaning,/Their wings drip-dripping/With blood/That fell upon the earth” (lines 2-6). I feel as if Crane believes that the end of the world will begin when humanity stops believing in God and takes matter into their hands. The inner thoughts of man will come out in the open it will churn in their stomach. All the desires they suppressed because they were immoral, un-ethical, or un-religious will come out in the open. Crane describes this in lines 7 to 11, “It, groaning thing,/Turned black and sank./Then from the far caverns/Of dead sins/Came monsters, livid with desire”. Crane then describes mans last attempt to take claim over the remains of the world after this mass apocalyptic war has ended. He explains “monsters,” man, even when all is destroyed and ravaged trying to lay claim over their waste lands. This is described in lines 12 to 14, “They fought,/Wrangled over the world,/A morsel”. The last lines are left with sadness because the few good people that try to protect one another are subjected to die and become engrossed by the evil that is in the bowels of mans souls. The last lines show the very end of days and explains how when this day comes not even the good will be saved and they will be left “[trying] to shield the [heads] of [sleeping] men from the jaws of the final beast” (lines 16-18). -
my favorite
From guest landon mariano (contact)
in my personal opinion this is one of crane's better works. its gritty, to the point, and very...i dont know how to put it, but it has an energy about it that is hard to come by with poems i read now. i have done extensive research on Crane and is life, and i believe this poem to be nothing more than what it is. no hidden deep meaning, no real innuendo, just his thoughts at the time. and therin lies the beauty of this poem to me. it is one of the few poems i have accepted at face value and never really sought for a deeper meaning . absolutley stunning -
One of Crane's Best
From guest philip taggart (contact)
This poem is simply about the powerful loyalty of Woman. The tragedy in the world is the cause of Man, and Woman, though helpless to save the world, remains loyal to the man through everything, even when Man himself is the cause of the grief. The female image isn't Mary. Crane came from a Protestant background, and would not have thought in such terms. No, the woman is Woman, loyal, loving, and the sleeping man is Man... ignorant, and oblivious even to something as powerful as love. -
The first line is such an attention-grabber. Going to the beginning of the bible, God looked down on earth and said it was good--so, he rested. How, with Crane, God is dead. What happened that killed God? Ha. In some ways, this is a pretty funny image. Man became so out of control that a final judgement had to be given, and it killed God in the process:his heart failed him and his beautiful creation killed him. The angels carry out the orders. The "heavenly" angels become killers, and the demonic angels get in the action as well (lines 11-14--yes, I turned the monsters into demons). As the battle wages on for the "morsel" of earth, a woman tries to help a sleeping man.
Lines 16-18 leave room for much speculation with implied symbolism. Could the woman be Mary? Yes--there are those that believe praying to her works. Could the woman be Justice? Yes--human justice trying to right a wrong in the last minute. Could it be a dying woman's arm trying to shield a sleeping man? Yeah, why not--the man is like the five foolish virgins (parable in the Bible) that didn't understand the signs of the time...he could be deaf...so many wonderful possibilities for just having FUN creating interpretive thoughts.
This would be a great poem to do a paper on. -
very nice
its is a type of poem that Reflects the distress of the solders who are grasped under the savage clutches of war which always results disaster.very nice expression.an unwilling solder's point of view -
Deep, very.
I believe that this is a very short summery of the Book of Revelation, pretty much the last half; except for the woman, who might be Mary, who cradles her child's head in her arms, in hopes of keeping the beast of death from taking him. ….. But, maybe not. -
intense!
I've been reading this piece over again for weeks, and i still don't think i grasp the deep meaning of Crane's words. It seems to me that this may have been inspired by an apocalyptic image of war, of a woman trying to save a man from dying... or at least, that's what i see in my mind when i read this.
In any case, it's incredibly thoughtful. -
WOW
Wow I have bever in all my life thought of God dying. This was very intense for me. I do not want to ponder on it too long because if God died where would I be. What an unbelievable concept that you had the thought to bring to life. I'm scared of you. The visuals were real. A very good write, what an imagination
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