Lyric Poem · Peace

"It was wrong to do this," said the angel

by Stephen Crane

Reading room

1"It was wrong to do this," said the angel.

2"You should live like a flower,

3Holding malice like a puppy,

4Waging war like a lambkin."

5"Not so," quoth the man

6Who had no fear of spirits;

7"It is only wrong for angels

8Who can live like the flowers,

9Holding malice like the puppies,

10Waging war like the lambkins."

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“"It was wrong to do this," said the angel” by Stephen Crane — quilloak.com/poems/it-was-wrong-to-do-this-said-the-angel

Quick facts

Poem: "It was wrong to do this," said the angel
Poet: Stephen Crane
Length: 10 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Peace, Nature, War & Remembrance, Short

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 10 lines · 2 stanzas of 4–6 lines
Line length: Lines run 7-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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Text, source & rights

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Author record: Stephen Crane1871–1900
Source record: PoetryDB"It was wrong to do this," said the angel 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 0f3143c46c9f11b0…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Peace Nature War & Remembrance Short

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