Fast Rode the Knight by Stephen Crane

Fast rode the knight
With spurs, hot and reeking,
Ever waving an eager sword,
"To save my lady!"
Fast rode the knight,
And leaped from saddle to war.
Men of steel flickered and gleamed
Like riot of silver lights,
And the gold of the knight's good banner
Still waved on a castle wall.
. . . . .
A horse,
Blowing, staggering, bloody thing,
Forgotten at foot of castle wall.
A horse
Dead at foot of castle wall.


Crane starts this poem with the knight riding fast on his horse to save his lady. It then says he "leaped fom saddle to war", meaning he jumped off his horse to fight the enemies. The fight is described as a "rot of silver lights",  but yet the knight defeats them and his good banner is still on the castle wall. Then, the poem is seperated and paused by the ".....". In the last stanza, the tone shifts as the author starts describing the abandoned, dead horse. This poem to me, makes the reader question- was it selfish of the knight to save his lady and leave his horse to die? After all, the horse did get the knight to the castle. The knight sacrifised the horse, to save his lady. The poem ends leaving the reader thinking about the horse, and not the valiant effort of the knight to save his lady.