Stephen Crane

Once a Man Clambering to the Housetops

Once a Man Clambering to the Housetops - meaning Summary

A Single Desperate Cry

The poem shows a lone man climbing to the housetops to call out to the heavens. His voice is urgent and martial, summoning a response from the deaf sky. The speaker then imagines a small sign on the clouds that swells into a vision of divine or martial hosts filling the sky. It explores human longing for acknowledgement and the sudden, almost hallucinatory transformation of silence into overwhelming presence.

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Once a man clambering to the housetops Appealed to the heavens. With strong voice he called to the deaf spheres; A warrior's shout he raised to the suns. Lo, at last, there was a dot on the clouds, And -- at last and at last -- -- God -- the sky was filled with armies.

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