Stephen Crane

I Met a Seer

I Met a Seer - meaning Summary

Sight and Sudden Blindness

A speaker encounters a seer who holds a "book of wisdom." The speaker insists he already knows much and asks to read, but when the seer opens the book the speaker suddenly becomes blind. The poem presents a brief, paradoxical scene about claimed knowledge versus actual understanding. It suggests that confronting true wisdom can expose limitations, humility, or an inability to perceive what one thought understood.

Read Complete Analyses

I met a seer. He held in his hands The book of wisdom. "Sir," I addressed him, "Let me read." "Child -- " he began. "Sir," I said, "Think not that I am a child, For already I know much Of that which you hold. Aye, much." He smiled. Then he opened the book And held it before me. -- Strange that I should have grown so suddenly blind.

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