Untitled by Stephen Crane

Untitled

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, beastial,
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."

                                by Stephen Crane

Paradigm shift, the use of few words to warp the readers views tremendously. Crane uses this in many of his poem's including "Untitled." Particularly in the lines 5, 8, 9, and 10 of this poem which happens to be taken out of a larger collection of poems and short stories called, "The Black Riders."

Self-truth is a large part of this poem by crane, self-truth and nature.

In Crane's conversation with the beastly man, it is shown the truth of the man's own heart of which he is eating upon. His heart is "bitter" but he enjoys it because it is his heart and he is learning of himself through it's taste, it's bitter taste.

I find nature in the first three lines. The man is naked, squatting on the ground, and beast like. All three descriptions of how nature intended humans to be. Naked and dependant upon mother earth. Beast like and initial survival instincts. I know Crane sets this poem within a dessert but I can't help imagining the man in a dense forest at a thick trunk of a tree, trying to hide within it until Crane speaks to him then turns, looking over his shoulder to speak, only his back, head, and hands, holding the half eaten heart, visible.

The poem being Untitled has great importance.  Crane likes to make his readers think. This is why he did not title the poem, to allow the reader to warp the meaning of the poem to their liking. When a poem is titled it is automatically tied into the poem and thought to have importance to the meaning. Crane didn't want to contaminate the meaning for the readers, I believe. This poem means different things to every single person.