#MIDDLEBURY
A Man Said to the Universe
Stephen Crane
A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
About this poem
“A Man Said to the Universe” was published in “War Is Kind” (Frederick A. Stokes, 1899).
About H.D.
Stephen Crane was born in Newark, N.J., in 1871. A prolific writer of poetry and fiction, Crane is the author of the collections “The Black Riders and Other Lines” (Copeland and Day, 1895) and “War is Kind” (Frederick A. Stokes, 1899), among others. He died in June of 1900.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
This poem is in the public domain. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
