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from War is Kind [“I explain the silvered passing of a ship at night”]

By Stephen Crane 1871–1900 Stephen Crane

I explain the silvered passing of a ship at night

The sweep of each sad lost wave

The dwindling boom of the steel thing's striving

The little cry of a man to a man

A shadow falling across the greyer night

And the sinking of the small star.

Then the waste, the far waste of waters

And the soft lashing of black waves

For long and in loneliness.

Remember, thou, oh ship of love

Thou leavest a far waste of waters

And the soft lashing of black waves

For long and in loneliness.

Biography

Stephen Crane was one of America's foremost realistic writers, and his works have been credited with marking the beginning of modern American Naturalism. His Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895) is a classic of American literature that realistically depicts the psychological complexities of fear and courage on the battlefield. Influenced by William Dean Howells's theory of realism, Crane utilized his keen . . .

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