On November 1, 1871, Stephen Crane was born in Newark, New Jersey. Crane is the famous author of the poem “Content,” among other works, which begins:
A youth in apparel that glittered
Went to walk in a grim forest.
There he met an assassin . . .
And it’s downhill for the rest.
You mean some people don’t feel that way?
Feel what way? That the rest of their life is going downhill?
That they’d be perfectly contented to die in a medieval way.
I can think of a few medieval ways to die that wouldn’t be my first choice.