n the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter -- bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."
Stephen Crane
After hitting ENTER, realizing the whole poem should have been posted. But I think, most only read about three lines.
Always curious about what separates us mortals from heroes.
Googling I went...
Heroism
Ruby wine is drunk by knaves,
Sugar spends to fatten slaves,
Rose and vine-leaf deck buffoons;
Thunderclouds are Jove’s festoons,
Drooping oft in wreaths of dread
Lightning-knotted round his head;
The hero is not fed on sweets,
Daily his own heart he eats;
Chambers of the great are jails,
And head-winds right for royal sails.
RWE
And from the long accompanying essay:
http://www.emersoncentral.com/heroism.htm
Our culture, therefore, must not omit the arming of the man.
Let him hear in season, that he is born into the state of war, and
that the commonwealth and his own well-being require that he should
not go dancing in the weeds of peace, but warned, self-collected, and
neither defying nor dreading the thunder, let him take both
reputation and life in his hand, and, with perfect urbanity, dare the
gibbet and the mob by the absolute truth of his speech, and the
rectitude of his behaviour.
The Friendly Guide to Mythology: A Mortal’s Companion to the Fantastical
Nancy Hathaway
Emerson’s essay made my brain hurt, this was an easer read.
Thirteen ways of looking at a hero.
#4 Emerson’s Hero
“Undeterred by philosophy , religion, or the desire for fancy food or physical comfort, the hero “advances to his own music” yet benefits us all.”
All of that, and still unsure of the meaning of’heart’ from Emerson or Crane?
But the search is fun.