Stephen Crane's War Is Kind

The overall message in this poem is a drill sergeant educating young soldiers and preparing them for the harsh reality of war. He is not playing ‘Mr. nice guy’, he is being tough and strict to give the soldiers no easy way out.

This is the poem that Jim Northrup wrote about war. I am going to Explicate the poem and

“War is hell, but that’s not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead.” (80)

War is a scandalous topic where peoples’ views differ as to what war is. Some people see it as pure evil and wicked while others think that it is brave and noble of what soldiers do. Looking at poems which had been written by people affected by war help show the messages which are portrayed. The two sets of poems which show different views of war as well as some similarities are “the Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars” by Richard Lovelace and “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, “The Song of the Mud” by Mary Borden. Both these poets use linguistic devices to convince the reader of their view of what the war is. Tennyson and Lovelace show how war is worthy

“The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell is able to accomplish so many thing with so little lines-mainly through the use of metaphor and diction. It explains the terrors of wars in gruesome detail and explains the ways in which wars, in a sense “breed” and “birth” death. To some, this poem is seen as the ultimate poem of war, and rightly

According to Brandon Mull, the New York Times bestselling author of the Beyonoders series, “…heroism means doing the right thing regardless of the consequence” (Mull 39). In The Wars by Timothy Findley, the protagonist, Robert Ross, displays key characteristics of heroism throughout his struggle to maintain his morality. In the novel, Robert displays an admiration for the sanctity of life, a desire to achieve the greatest good, and a virtuous moral conscience which all contribute to him achieving heroism in the face of adversity.

The Best War Ever, written by Michael C. C. Adams, is a book focusing on the balanced history of the experience from America’s view during World War II. It neither glorifies nor vilifies the U.S. participation but discusses the real horrors of the war by using glorifying aspects that could have been deceptive or even misleading. World War II defined and transformed the rest of our lives. Americans viewed World War II as the “Good War” or “The Best War Ever”. After the end of the war, Americans had a positive outlook after overcoming the past years. German fascism and the Japanese were defeated but were also encouraged to resume roles of our world responsibility in our image of democracy. It is generally agreed that World War II was a necessary war.

The glorified act of war is often staged in historical literature by idolizing the soldiers who partake in the event. Soldiers are made to seem intrepid, ruthless and muscular, each with a ceaseless desire to fight valiantly for their countries. Timothy Findley and Kurt Vonnegut discard this typical hero archetype in their anti-war novels by portraying the soldiers who fight in the war as the men they are, not as the templates of heroes they are expected to fit, in furtherance of strengthening their anti-war stances. Findley and Vonnegut illustrate their protagonists as a tragic hero and an anti-hero, respectively, in order to juxtapose the atrocities of war with the flawed humanness of man and to challenge the stereotypical image of a

Often times war is depicted in a victorious, triumphant manner when in reality war is chaotic; full of destruction and death. In Stephen Crane’s “A Mystery of Heroism” and Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge,” we witness the harsh reality of the war and the common human reaction to the havoc. Fred Collins simply wants water, but the well is on the other side of the battlefield. Peyton Farquhar, a loyal civilian to the South, just wanted to help in the war but instead was hanged for his good-intentioned attempt to destroy the bridge to help the Confederates. Ambrose Bierce and Stephen Crane wrote “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” and “A Mystery of Heroism” to show the natural human condition in adverse situations.

I think that more than dehumanizing the impact of war, the text really uses poetic devices well. In a dark and sorrowful context. This quote caught my attention and I even knew that this is the quote I wanted to use of this example. I like it because it is a good summarization of his entire experience.

Prior to this quote, O’Brien questions how one generalizes war. With this long, incredibly broad description of war, it is clear that the true essence of war cannot be described. All of the words that are used to describe war are contradictory. War for each individual person can be different. Just as O’Brien introduces the idea that “war is grotesque,” he also states that “war is also beauty” (O’Brien 77). Thus, war can be interpreted in a myriad of ways, allowing each individual to take away a different perception of war.

“War is Hell!” These three words have stood the test of time and numerous wars. These words uttered by General William Sherman, a unionist Civil War Veteran, perfectly describe the hardships faced by all soldiers, from the American Revolutionist to the modern day soldier in Afghanistan. Tim O’Brien served in the Vietnam Conflict from 1968 to 1970, (O’Brien 1131) during some of the most intense fighting known as the Tet Offensive (Durkin). During the conflict 58,202 Americans were killed in action (Durkin) and hundreds of thousands, more were left with not only the physical scars of war but the emotional ones too. In the short story “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien uses symbolism and conflict to show that soldiers often carry more weight than what is on their backs.

Symbols are often proposed to help get the audience to question themselves and the way they think. An example of a Symbolism what do you consider to be the value of life and how they present it in a story? Many people will say life is greater than anything else on Earth, but then why do people go around smashing bugs or destroying trees or getting abortions? “Scholars would talk about symbolism in writing, but no one had asked the writers.” At any state, many other people are forced to consider that their view on the subject is. Stephen Crane most definitely plays with rhetorical questions and the symbols that follow those questions, especially in The Red Badge of Courage and An Episode of War.

Stephen Crane’s “War is Kind” and Carl Sandburg’s “Grass” may at first seem nearly as different as night and day. One poem describes the battles and atrocity of war, and another speaks of nature’s covering it up. However, thematically, the two are alike in that they both explore the issues of warfare and human death, along with the tragic impact that both of these things have on humanity. “War is Kind”, published in 1899, takes a look at the sheer amount of loss that the United States suffered during the Civil War (encyclopedia.com). The poem opens with an unknown narrator telling a young maiden not to weep despite her lover’s death, for war is kind.

I see everything... In the story "An episode of war" by Stephen Crane, is about a man who was scattering his coffee and miraculously shot in his hand. The man goes by the title lieutenant and a name is not mentioned for him. As the sky I see everything,the only difference between God and I,is I cannot control anything. I am so beautiful, do not mean to be full of myself.