A cautionary poem presenting the consequences of uncontrolled anger. A man, depicted as an everyman figure relatable to any reader, commits a violent act in a moment of rage, throwing another person into the sea. The poem immediately shifts focus not to the victim but to the perpetrator, examining how this impulsive, unreflective action will haunt him afterward. His future pleasures and comforts, symbolized by his evening drink, will be permanently tainted by the memory of what he has done. The central moral is that rage destroys the one who acts upon it as much as its victim, with guilt and remorse becoming an inescapable burden on ordinary domestic happiness.
By Robert Louis Stevenson · Genre: Literary Fiction, Experimental Fiction, Philosophical Fiction