Lyric Poem · War & Remembrance

Supposing that I should have the courage

by Stephen Crane

Reading room

1Supposing that I should have the courage

2To let a red sword of virtue

3Plunge into my heart,

4Letting to the weeds of the ground

5My sinful blood,

6What can you offer me?

7A gardened castle?

8A flowery kingdom?

9What? A hope?

10Then hence with your red sword of virtue.

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“Supposing that I should have the courage” by Stephen Crane — quilloak.com/poems/supposing-that-i-should-have-the-courage

Quick facts

Poem: Supposing that I should have the courage
Poet: Stephen Crane
Length: 10 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: War & Remembrance, Love, Hope, Short

Craft notes

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Shape: 10 lines · 2 stanzas of 2–8 lines
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Author record: Stephen Crane1871–1900
Source record: PoetryDBSupposing that I should have the courage 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 417a75270502f055…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem War & Remembrance Love Hope Short

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