The Harsh Satire of “War is Kind” The act of war is a brutal, harsh reality that devastates the future of all men. Stephen Crane’s “War is Kind” is a poem written in a witty, blunt perspective to depict the pointless destruction that derives from war and man-on-man violence. The poem’s intentions at first glance are an attempt to defend the logic of war with the glory of battle, yet the events depicted in each stanza show just how false this glory actually is and the terror of those who suffer in
In Stephen Crane's novel, he talks about the subject of war and its effects. Usually when we think of war we think of the devastation and the losses of many lives but Crane's work ironically tells us simply that war is kind. “War is Kind” itself is a 26-line poem in five stanzas focusing on the emotional loss of three women whose lover, father, and son, respectively, have died in war. The poem opens with a guy assumed to be a soldier of some sort telling a maiden not to weep over her dead lover because
The first recorded war was fought in 2700 BCE. Countless wars have been fought since. Like all issues, people have an attitude toward war. Stephen Crane, the author of “War is Kind” and “A Mystery of Heroism,” has a negative attitude toward war. “War is Kind” is a poem describing the results of war. “A Mystery of Heroism” is a short story centering on Fred Collins, in the midst of battle. Crane uses irony is “War is Kind” and “A Mystery of Heroism” to reveal his dislike of war and its outcomes, thus
Stephen Crane is considered to be one of the most influential and talented writers of the late 1800s because of his innovative writing style, vivid sense of irony and disturbing psychological realism. In his most popular work, The Red Badge of Courage, Crane exposes the human side of warfare; his book also serves as a testimony to the horrors of battle on any front. Crane’s works are studied in American Literature classes all throughout the world, his ability to make his stories believable coupled
thought-provoking poem “War Is Kind,” poet Stephen Crane challenges romanticized ideas of war through devastating portrayals of the horrific results of cyclic violence and battle. While Crane’s sorrowful imagery describing the thousands of senseless deaths and the heartbreak of those left behind sufficiently expresses his anti-war views on its own, Crane also skillfully utilizes several other poetic techniques and devices to demonstrate his purpose on a deeper level. Specifically, Crane’s use of a refrain,
Irony in Stephen Crane’s War Is Kind Most poets use their unique gift of writing poetry to relieve stress or just to document their emotions towards a given subject. Others use it as a key to bring about social change and voice their opinion on modern events. This is the case in Stephen Crane’s War Is Kind. The speaker in the poem uses irony as a strategy to convince the reader of the harsh reality of war. In the first few lines of the poem, the reader can already receive a feel of the irony
“Over sixty Million people were killed in the world wars;”(www.nationalww2) this is almost three percent of the population in nineteen forty. Stephen Crane was the only writer who was not in a war, Crane was a war reporter for the Spanish-American war. Wilfred Owen was in World War 1, he died in 1918. Owen wrote a lot while in the war but nobody ever knew until his personal belongings were sent home, when his family found Owen’s writings they decided to publish them, such as “Dulce et Decorum Est”(Owen)
Comparing Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est and Crane's Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind Both Stephen Crane's "Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind" and Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" use vivid images, diction rich with connotation, similes, and metaphors to portray the irony between the idealized glory of war and the lurid reality of war. However, by looking at the different ways these elements are used in each poem, it is clear that the speakers in the two poems are soldiers who come
War Poetry Comparison The poems “War is Kind”, written by Stephen Crane, and “On Receiving News of the War” written by Isaac Rosenberg provide similar views on the senselessness of war, though they use different techniques to convey their messages. “War is Kind” is a sarcastic poem that ridicules war using explicit imagery to stimulate emotion from the reader, whereas “On Receiving News of the War” utilises alliteration to propose war’s blasphemous qualities. Crane’s use of impactful imagery and
If one is a fan of irony, then Stephen Crane's work is worth the read. He uses irony for real life situations to relate to his readers. In “War is Kind” Stephen Crane develops emotional connections with the readers by using irony to comfort the families. In “A Mystery of Heroism” he gives us the perspective of what being in the war is like. Stephen Crane uses irony in both “A Mystery of Heroism,” and “War is Kind” to prove that he is opposed to the war by developing emotion’s of the soldiers’ families