Stephen Crane

The Way Your Little Finger Moved

The Way Your Little Finger Moved - meaning Summary

Small Gesture, Large Suffering

The short poem presents a speaker seized by intense emotional pain over a trivial, intimate gesture: the movement of a lover's little finger as she plays with her hair and a gilt comb. The speaker repeats an exclamation of anguish, framing this small, ordinary action as the cause of unbearable suffering. The poem compresses desire, fixation, and helplessness into a single vivid image of private torment.

Read Complete Analyses

AH, God, the way your little finger moved As you thrust a bare arm backward And made play with your hair And a comb a silly gilt comb Ah, God--that I should suffer Because of the way a little finger moved.

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