1628. The Wayfarer

 

By Stephen Crane

 

 

 

THE WAYFARER,

Perceiving the pathway to truth,

Was struck with astonishment.

It was thickly grown with weeds.

“Ha,” he said,

        5

“I see that none has passed here

In a long time.”

Later he saw that each weed

Was a singular knife.

“Well,” he mumbled at last,

        10

“Doubtless there are other roads.”

  

Wow! What a great poem.  In this poem the narrator tells a short story about a man and his quest for truth and how the path to gain it, is full of obstacles.  I totally agree with what the narrator is saying in this poem.  Throughout our lives, we are always on a quest for something whether it is for truth, love, money, etc…, and what we find out on our quest is that it isn’t as easy as it looks.  There are always some obstacles that we must overcome before we can obtain our goal.  If one person wants to become lawyer then he or she would have to overcome the obstacle of going through law school (not an easy task).  The man in this poem gets excited when he comes to the path that will lead him to the truth that he seeks because he sees that nobody has gone through that path in a long time.  Every human in the world gets excited when they come up with a “master plan” that they think that nobody else has ever tried and then they find out why.  ”Later he saw that each weed Was a singular knife”.  They, like the man in the poem, find out the road to their goal is not always paved for easy travel.  Then and only then do they realize that many others have had the same goal as do, but they chose to give up due to the obstacles that they would have to overcome.  The last line in this poem can clearly state this, “Doubtless there are other roads”.  If there were any other paths to take, others would have already taken them.

The definition of a wayfarer is a traveler going on a trip (often by foot). This seems to be a fitting title for a poem about a journey that many of must face at some point in our lives.