War is kind - Stephan Crane
War is kind - Stephan Crane
Do
not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because
your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And
the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do
not weep.
War
is kind.
Hoarse,
booming drums of the regiment,
Little
souls who thirst for fight,
These
men were born to drill and die.
The
unexplained glory flies above them,
Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom—
A
field where a thousand corpses lie.
Do
not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because
your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged
at his breast, gulped and died,
Do
not weep.
War
is kind.
Swift,
blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle
with crest of red and gold,
These
men were born to drill and die.
Point
for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make
plain to them the excellence of killing
And
a field where a thousand corpses lie.
Mother
whose heart hung humble as a button
On
the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do
not weep.
War
is kind.
Author Stephan Crane
He was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. He is one of the most innovative writers of his generation. Crane began writing at the age of four and had published several articles by the age of 16. Crane’s 1st novel was the 1893 Bowery tale Maggie: A girl of the streets. He won international acclaim in 1895 for his civil war. He was befriended by writers such as Joseph Conrad and H.G wells. Due to financial difficulties and ill health, Crane died of tuberculosis in a black forest sanatorium in Germany at the age of 28.
Crane’s writing is categorized by
vivid intensity, dialects and irony. His common themes were fear, spiritual
crisis and social isolation. Crane is known for his poetry, journalism and
short stories such as “The open Boat”. His works made a deep impression on 20th
century writers.
Analysis of “War is Kind”
Stanza 1
“Do not weep, maiden,
for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward
the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind”
The speaker begins with a comforting words. He tells a “maiden,” or unmarried woman, not
to weep. For “War is kind” according to
him. This is an extraordinary ironic, thing to say.
He then tells the woman the condition of her lover. He “lover threw” his hands in the air when he
was confronted with war. When this happened, his “steed,” or horse ran alone.
It was “affrighted,” a complicated way to say frightened. The rider less horse
galloping away alone without its dead owner. It is quiet unclear what exactly happened to
the soldier lover to through his hands in the air. Maybe he was surrendering or
perhaps something happened and he was injured or even killed in the war. For the battlefield is full of dead corpses.
Stanza 2
“Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The unexplained glory flies above them,
Great is the battle-god, great, and his
kingdom—
A field where a thousand corpses lie”.
In the second stanza the poet makes a reference to a “steed” and
uses the word “Hoarse”. This time he refers to the band played by the regiment
of soldiers. They sound “hoarse,” refers to the condition of the soldiers as if
they are not well and they are in need to quench their thirst. In the next two
lines the poet compares the soldiers are “Little souls” and are thirsty not for
water, but “for fight”. They are thirsty for their country’s pride
and victory.
The “little souls” appears contrast with the next lines which refers to the men who do not have
souls. The speaker goes on to say about their duty as they are born for only to
fight for their country. They were born to “drill” as in train and practice,
and then die. They are like well-trained human machines and mechanical in their
actions and in their purpose.
In the fourth line the
poet makes a references “unexplained glory”. Since there is no proper clear answer
to the meaning of glory, but it could mean ephemeral nature of glory itself. It could be something the outsiders of war should
feel upon those who are in the war.
Glory is not blessed on to people outside. It is something which felt on the soldiers on
the battlefield.
In the last lines of
this stanza the poet says about the god of war.
There are lot of god who could take this description but the name of the
god does not make a difference. But the
speaker wants to create a scene which is a different kingdom. This is filled with thousands of dead corpses
and this is place is a dark and fearful place which is under the control of a
powerful force.
Stanza 3
Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
In the third stanza the poet asks “babe” not to weep. Now he is speaking to a young child.
He advices the child that there is no reason to cry, and gives a
good reason not to cry. The child’s father, who was in the battlefield must have
died in “the yellow trenches”. He had rage in his breast and in the simplest
way, “gulped and died”. The “rage” means his own thirst for war and patriotism,
and also to the injury which killed him. The bullet entered his body, and
killed him by another soldier’s thirst for war who is standing opposite to him
representing his motherland.
Stanza 4
Swift, blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie
The flag of the regiment is mentioned in this
stanza “blazing” and pattered with a “crest of red and gold” and an eagle. In these lines the speaker goes through some terrible
images such as “eagle with crest of red and gold”. And “a field where a
thousand corpses lie.” He speaks to the
flag, and tells it to make sure the men know that there is “virtue” in
slaughtering one’s enemies and that there is “excellence” honor in killing.
Stanza 5
Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
The fifth stanza of is addressed to a mother who is facing with
the loss of her dear son. With the “heart hung humble” the speaker describes
the way she takes the pain of his son before his coffin. Her heart was on the
“shroud” the cloth of her son, as simple as a button. The stanza end with the
poet’s request to someone not to cry for war is kind.
Themes
Law of nature
“War is kind” stresses on the mental agony of
the dying soldiers and their beloved kith and kin. They would be focusing on
their wellbeing instead of their patriotic feelings. Their deaths are well expressed in this poem
which is a vital part of war. They die alone and full of rage, in a battlefield
“where a thousand corpses lie.” “War is
Kind” also says the nature of War, it is about the regiment who takes the
slogan “to drill and die” and Point
for them the virtue of slaughter” This suggests, Crane sees
the war with a difference. One can feel sad and sympathy for the victims of the
war. But how could one stop his anger on
who permits war? The Regiment, mentally framed an idea “Make plain to them the excellence of killing” He
expresses his anger with an ironic tone that “War is Kind”
Feeling for the Country
“War is Kind” doubts the usefulness of patriotism. The flag is an
emblem of national pride “the unexplained glory,” it would fly above the
soldiers marching towards their deaths to protect the honor of his
country. On the battlefield it is hard
to understand for there is nothing rational to fight and die for the pride and
honor of the flag. The Flag is symbol of “the excellence of
killing” and “the virtue of slaughter.” The poet says that patriotism is an act of
obedience which may be blind to some and honest to the other. Crane stresses that
such love to the flag “were born to drill and die,” there were no choice for
the soldiers who were under the influence of Patriotism.
Style
“War is Kind” is a free verse on war and its consequences. The
poet uses solid imagery and irony to give awareness of the futility of war. The
imagery describes the horrors of war directly to our sense. Tactile imagery is
in the poem highlights the effects of battle on the human body and to the
emotional feelings of their relatives. The tone of the poem is ironic, that is,
he does not mean that war is kind, but that it is cruel and unjust. Another
example of irony if from the second stanza when the speaker says “Great is the
battle-god, great, and his kingdom …” It is a painful ironic that war’s
“kindness” because the soldiers’ deaths bring them release from their suffering
and they don’t have to fight more with their unknown enemy.
The poem consists of two types of language or diction. The
language used in the first and fifths stanzas is simple, plain and closer to
day today speech, whereas the language of the second and fourth stanzas uses more
formal verse such as end rhyme. The contrast between these two styles adds to
the poem a sense of warning and the author’s intention to bring out the
futility of wars.
Analysis
The poem starts with a comforting words. “Do not weep maiden”
which is immediately followed by the contrasting lines “for war is kind”. This
is both ironic and sarcastic. Now, the poet describes us an image of a man who
throws his hands wildly at the sky. The word “throw”, it reminds us of somebody
praying to God. The soldier must have
been killed and his horse galloping in fear alone after losing control. The horrific
picture of the dying soldier brings home the bitter reality of the war which
does not have anything to do with the soldier or his family. But the effect of the war is shocking and
painful.
The second stanza commences with the words “hoarse, booming drums
of the regiment” with brings an onomatopoeic effect to the readers. The drums
were used to show the advancing troops and used to motivate their fighting
spirits. The next two lines bring out sad fate of the soldiers who are engaged
in war:
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The poet refers the soldiers as “little souls”. The poet expresses
his sympathetic feelings and he makes a difference with brave images of
soldiers. The next line with its strong alliteration of “d” sound in “drill and
die” express their tough nature of the soldiers and their short lives in the
battlefield. In other words, the
soldiers are the weapons in the hands of the powerful rulers. The next line
carries ironic tone
The unexplained glory flies above them
Glory is personified as an unreachable far distanced dream as the
soldiers would never get a chance to feel the so called “glory “while they are
alive. The poet points out the
difference the ideal and the real nature of war in the following lines.
Great is the battle-god, great, and his
kingdom
A field where a thousand corpses lie.
The alliteration in the first line “g” sound gives the poshness
and greatness of war especially with the allusion the Mars, the Roman God of
War or the “battle-god”. but, the next line brings totally a different scene
where death of soldier is among the
thousand corpses lie no value for life
as he is one among the thousand.
The 3rd stanza is addressed to a baby whose father had died in
war:
Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Death of a soldier does not differ whether he can be a father or
husband or lover. All the loss are same
and it pains the people who lose them. The First World War was mainly an underground
warfare and many soldiers were fighting from trenches. The conditions of the
trenches made the soldiers uncomfortable and they dies of diseases then from
war. The “yellow trenches” bring out the uncomfortable conditions of the
trenches. The excruciating pain suffered by the dying soldier is conveyed
through “raged” and “gulped”. This horrific brings out the cruelty of war
The next stanza describes us
the battle field
Swift, blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
The regimental flag with its golden crest symbolizes the spirit
and heroism of war. The next line, conveys the bitter reality of war as,
according to the poet, the soldiers are machines in the hands of the powerful
rulers just born to “drill and die”. This sudden change of tone is called
anti-climax. The next two lines with “virtue of slaughter” and “excellence of
killing” are also loaded with irony.
The final stanza with the image of a mother mourning his dead son
provides an appropriate conclusion to the poem:
Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
The alliteration of the “h” sound in the first line brings out a
sense of heaviness of heart felt by the mother. The simile “humble as a button”
is quite admiring and it connects with the “shroud” the covering cloth of the
dead son. It is “bright and splendid”,
the soldier is honored and glorified after his death as he fought for his
country and sacrificed his life for his land. When the world salutes his
sacrifice, his mother’s love has become insignificant like “a button”.
The poem ends with the same comforting lines again
“Do not weep
War is kind”
Like most poems about war, this poem too brings out the futility of
war and its miserable experiences.
Poetic techniques
Syntax
The poem, contains phrases loaded with heavy emotions. An example is
“mother whose heart hung humble as a button”. This gives an uncomfortable
feelings to the readers as they can see the pain of the mother to his dead son
soldier, still she supposed to stay because he died fighting for the pride of
his motherland. Also the poet uses maiden, babe and mother to
say that the time period is for men to fight for the country, women to stay and
care her family.
Imagery
Stephen Crane uses imagery so the readers can see mentally what
the poet wants to say. The first imagery is the “affrighted steed ran on
alone”. By this imagery the readers
could see the situation of the soldier as frightened horse running alone by
itself. The second imagery in this poem
is the sound of the drums of the regiment. From this the readers can visualize the
regiment play to boost up their physical and mental energy to face the fight. “Thousand
corpses lie” is another imagery. By this we can understand that war is not
really not a kind because many die and are left to rot in fields. The last
image in the poem is troop dying which describes the soldier’s death “raged at
his breast, gulped and died”.
Figure of speech
Crane uses figurative language in the poem, he uses some animals
and the glory related to it. To bring
out the glory of the soldiers he compares it to the majestic of a bird. He uses metaphor. The
metaphor compares the regiment to an “eagle”. By comparing the regiment to an eagle, the
readers can feel the poet’s intention. Crane believes and expresses that the
soldiers are strong and brave.
Tone
The tone of the poem is sarcastic. Because the poet says that the war is kind but
if you give a deep thought the readers can feel it is not about the war but it
is about the pain of those who are related to the war. He didn’t say a single verse to support that
war is kind instead he has brought out his agony in each line about the
futility of war.
Theme
After a deep analysis of the poem, the readers can come to the
conclusion that the theme of the poem is that war is not kind at all. Readers
can understand this by studying the words used, images and tone in each
situation. As the tone is very sarcastic, the poet concludes the war is not
kind but it brings everlasting pain to those who lose their beloved ones in the
war.
Comments
Post a Comment