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Lyric Poem · Life

In a lonely place

by Stephen Crane

1In a lonely place,

2I encountered a sage

3Who sat, all still,

4Regarding a newspaper.

5He accosted me:

6"Sir, what is this?"

7Then I saw that I was greater,

8Aye, greater than this sage.

9I answered him at once,

10"Old, old man, it is the wisdom of the age."

11The sage looked upon me with admiration.

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Quick facts

Poem
In a lonely place
Poet
Stephen Crane
Length
11 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Life

Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record
Stephen Crane1871–1900
Source record
PoetryDBIn a lonely place by stephen-crane, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision
Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record
Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint
SHA-256 0d797b25fe0c07fb
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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