Stephen Crane is regarded by many scholars as the first twentieth century American writer, in spite of the fact that he died in 1900 and did not live to see his twenty-eighth birthday. Crane is often described as a realist, with themes of spiritual crises and social isolation appearing in his work. Although Crane scholars attribute the meaning of the poem "Impossible Distances" to Crane's own confused religious views, the transparent nature of the text led me to a different way of thinking about the work. To me, the text is about the struggle to fulfill our ambitions, that we can never hope to achieve what it is we truly want but that we should find meaning, and even joy, in surmounting the obstacles that are put in our way.
Text ("XXVI" from The Black Riders and Other Lines):
There was set before me a mighty hill,
And long days I climbed
Through regions of snow.
When I had before me the summit-view,
It seemed that my labour
Had been to see gardens
Lying at impossible distances.