Lyric Poem · Love

There was a man and a woman

by Stephen Crane

Reading room

2There was a man and a woman

3Who sinned.

4Then did the man heap the punishment

5All upon the head of her,

6And went away gaily.

7ii

8There was a man and a woman

9Who sinned.

10And the man stood with her.

11As upon her head, so upon his,

12Fell blow and blow,

13And all people screaming, "Fool!"

14He was a brave heart.

15iii

16He was a brave heart.

17Would you speak with him, friend?

18Well, he is dead,

19And there went your opportunity.

20Let it be your grief

21That he is dead

22And your opportunity gone;

23For, in that, you were a coward.

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“There was a man and a woman” by Stephen Crane — quilloak.com/poems/there-was-a-man-and-a-woman

Quick facts

Poem: There was a man and a woman
Poet: Stephen Crane
Length: 23 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Love, Death & Loss, Sad

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: 23 lines · 6 stanzas of 1–8 lines
Refrains: “There was a man and a woman”“He was a brave heart.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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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: PoetryDBThere was a man and a woman 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 76017e1295748730…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Love Death & Loss Sad

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