Many Workmen

Many Workmen - meaning Summary

Creation and Sudden Destruction

Stephen Crane's brief parable recounts workers who build a massive structure on a mountaintop, admire their achievement, and then are abruptly destroyed when it breaks loose and crushes them. The poem presents collective pride followed by sudden, unanticipated catastrophe, highlighting the fragility of human creations and the gap between intent and consequence. Its tone is stark and ironic, compressing a moral about labor, hubris, and violent reversal into a few spare lines.