"War is Kind" by Stephen Crane, Analysis and Reflection

POEM #2

“War is Kind” by Stephen Crane

Page 352

Analysis

“War is Kind” by Stephen Crane is a piece that is extremely critical on war and questions if war and the death and destructions that results is truly worth it. Through the use of structure and sarcasm, Crane attempts to sway the mind of the reader to be critical towards war and to see it for what it really is.

The structure of the poem is truly brilliant in showing the two contrasting viewpoints on war. The first, third and final stanza are the false view of war, the one that is devised to give meaning for it, an excuse. The theme of these three stanzas is consoling those effected by a death in war. The speaker pleads to them to not be sad in saying: “Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind”, “Do not weep babe for war is kind” and “Mother…/do not weep.” Although the speaker is trying to console these people, he does not paint a pretty picture for them as to how their loved one died. He states plainly the manner of their death in “your lover threw wild hands toward the sky”, “your father tumbled…/gulped and died” and “shroud of your son.” The stereotypical view of someone consoling another who lost a loved one in war is the scene in which they describe how glorious they were and the valiant manner of their death. But Crane knows this, but shows that if one were honest, they could not paint war as glorious or kind at all. The second and fourth stanza provide the reader with the gritty truth of war. It is almost as if the consoling stanzas are like a speech, and the gritty parts are an aside, a secret being revealed to the reader by a whistleblower, denouncing the understating speech of the consoler.  The asides portray the true manner in which war is conducted. Men do not simply die as the speech wants you to believe. There is a soul there ripped apart, a body torn and heart shattered. As the aside repeats “These men were born to drill and die”, they were not treated as souls, but as pawns of war, pointed towards “the virtue of slaughter” who were trained to believe in the “excellence of killing”. The structure used by Crane exposes those who release information on war as understating deceivers, portraying war as kind.

When one thinks of war, they oftentimes think of the glory, honor and patriotism expressed during it. But Crane is begging the reader to re-evaluate their view on war by exposing it for what it really is. “War is Kind” follows a specific pattern that is infused with sarcasm. The very title of the poem is a curious choice of words that immediately displays the sarcasm that will come up throughout the piece. The speaker constantly tells individuals to not weep after describing in detail the manner of their loved ones deaths. He says things such as “your lover threw wild hands toward the sky” and “Raged at his breast, gulped and died.” How could the speaker, after describing that, not expect someone to weep? It is a horrible revelation to these people yet he is sarcastic is saying “Do not weep” and reiterating the satirical statement “War is kind.” The second and fourth stanzas (the asides) also possess sarcasm to persuade the reader to not believe the consoler. The sarcastic statement “unexplained glory flies” in line 9 comments on the misconstrued and misunderstood “glory” of war. Soldiers are often told they will achieve glory, honor and respect if they fight and die for their country or cause. But in reality they are only “born to drill and die” and lie in “A field where a thousand corpses lie.” Crane implores them to not fight for their foreseen glory, for all they will achieve is a painful death. The most sarcastic lines of the piece are in lines 21-22 where it says “Point for them the virtue of slaughter,/Make plain for them the excellence of killing.” This is truly a shocking combination of words to form two satirical lines that are used to comment on the absurdity of thinking killing and death is a glorious affair. There is not virtue or excellence in killing, but the consoler would have you to believe there is and that it is worth suffering and dying for. Without these sarcastic statements, the anti-war sentiment of the piece would not have been as strongly evident and would have certainly taken away from the piece.

Reflection

War is a horrible thing. I believe that if war can be averted in any way then it should be. This poem does an excellent job of exposing the war mongering argument that war is always glorious and just, which is not always true. From seeing documentaries on war and having relatives who have lived through war, I am convinced there is no glory in it. The amount of destruction and death war causes, reverberates for centuries. Having said that, I think this poem is too critical of war. It really presents no defense for it, which I believe there is. While I believe there is no glory in war, I do believe there can be virtue and honor. There have been many wars fought for virtuous and honorable causes such as the American Civil War to defeat slavery and WWII fought to crush evil and oppression throughout the world. Crane fails to acknowledge this. But, besides that aspect I found this poem to be very well written and I enjoyed it very much.