The Truth About War In Stephen Crane’s poem “War is Kind” and Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est,” both writers speak upon the ugly truth of how war truly is. These poems were highly talked about during their time because what these writers described in their poems is not what the majority of the people thought of when the idea of fighting for one’s country came into mind. War was often glamorized and it was seen as an honor to serve for one’s country. Although Crane never served in the United States military, he covered a number of conflicts for various newspapers and news services during the mid-to-late 1890s as a journalist (Edwin). Owen, on the other hand, did participate in a war and wrote about his intense personal experience …show more content…
He contradicts himself throughout the poem. He does this on purpose and it has a strong impact on the poem. He uses imagery to portray the true harshness of war. Crane writes, “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.” (lines 1-5). Crane’s detailed images of the fallen men in the first, third, and fifth stanzas show the savagery of war and its cruelty. The second and fourth stanzas provide more generalized images of war, the speaker's tone is a lot harsher. War is portrayed to be dark and intense, contradicting the title of the poem. Young men were encouraged to go to war. Everyone took pride in fighting for one's country. Crane’s attitude towards war was not positive. He is sarcastic and gentle, however he still manages to sound angry about how unfair war is. In the second stanza of the poem, Crane creates an imagine of the point of view of a general. This is illustrated in the following quote: “ 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.” (lines 7-11). That speaker is talking to himself, he doesn't see his soldiers as real people. He refers to them as “little souls” which belittles them.All war does is cause death and destruction. Maidens lose their lovers, …show more content…
There is nothing light to the images he describes. In “Dulce et Decorum Est,” Owen keeps it straight forward. What he describes in the poem seems to be exactly what he wants his readers to see. However, in Crane’s “War is Kind,” it seems as if there are two speakers, but if you read closely, you understand that it is just one speaker, a General. The General deals with having an internal conflict. It is his duty to conceal the harsh truth of war, however he feels sympathy for the wife, baby, and mother of the fallen soldiers. The speakers of the poems may be ranked differently in the military, however, they share the same experiences and
There are many things in this world that are impossible to understand without first hand experience.This can be especially irritating for people who have the knowledge, but see everyone else with the wrong idea. Philip Larkin and Wilfred Owen show this in their poems about the common misconception of war glorification. Through imagery and the use of similes, they explain what it's really like for a person to go into battle. To outsiders, fighting in war is a noble cause worthy of envy and praise, but from the inside perspective the only thing war does is take away the innocence of
In Crane’s poem, “War is Kind” he writes about how war is “kind,” though in reality, war it isn’t. War is never kind. The speaker is telling a maiden not to cry for her dead lover. He tells child to not cry over his dead father, and for a mother not to cry over her her dead son. Crane uses lots of irony in this poem. Which leaves the reader thinking the speaker is cold hearted. The speaker in Crane’s poem is sarcastic about war and is sardonic in his perspectives considering war. Although underneath the sarcasm and coldness, the speaker could be feeling anguish, and sadness. That person might be feeling bitter because he may have experienced war first hand or may have lost a loved on in war.
In conclusion, depending on the position from which one views war, the standpoint may vary ranging from being supportive of the soldiers because those who die are dying for the country or they are completely unsupportive of war activities because it is a brutal and gruesome experience involving countless unnecessary injuries and deaths. Affected by a number of factors, the authors of the two poems have chosen opposing standpoints on the issue of war where Tennyson glorified it with the main message that it is an honour to die for one's country whereas the other, Owen suppresses the idea of war by illustrating all the horrid experiences of a soldier.
What made Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage become an unforgettable original surpassing other war novels is its depiction of the cruelty of the battlefield through the young soldier’s eyes. During the story’s timeline, Henry undergoes a subtle change in his attitude towards war. Starting as being self-centered and delusional,the youth becomes doubtful of his own self as well as his perceptions of war, afterwards finally matures into a man. This change has contributed greatly to the message of war which the novel conveys.
Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem about World War I. Owen describes the horrors of war he has witnessed first-hand after enlisting in the war. Prior to his encounter with war he was a devote Christian with an affinity towards poetry, and after being swayed by war agitprop he returned home to enlist in the army; Owen was a pacifist and was at his moral threshold once he had to kill a man during the war. The poem goes into detail about what the soldiers had to endure according to Owen, “many had lost their boots / but limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; / drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots” (5-7). Owen’s conclusion to the poem is that “the old Lie; dulce et decorum est / pro patria mori” (27-28), Latin for “it is sweet and right to die for your country,” is not easily told when one has experienced war. In his detailed poem Owen writes about the true terrors of war and that through experience you would probably change your conceived notion about dying for your country.
He uses examples, such as a mother losing her son saying, "Mother whose heart hung humble as a button, on the bright splendid shroud of your son". By using these situations, Crane shows the reader that it does not matter who you or your loved ones are, in war there is only death, and honor and glory will not prevent it. Crane uses sarcasm in parts of the poem such as, " The unexplained glory flies above them, great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom..." to convey to the reader how terrible war is and then is truthful afterwards saying, "A field where a thousand corpses lie", to push his central idea of war being cruel and terrible. In life, war is not a romanticized place where there is nothing but honor and glory, it is a brutal place where people fight and die in cruel and bloody ways. Crane being a realist author, wanted people to know and depict war as it really was: horrific and terrifying.
Through reading this poem several times I decided that the message from the poem is that war is full of horror and there is little or no glory. Methods which I found most effective were Full rhyme and metaphor.
Crane expresses this through irony. He amplifies the public’s view of the greatness of war in his poem, to ridicule, in a sense, this view to more deeply express his opinion that war is a harsh reality, the opposite of what most civilians make it out to be. Works Cited Crane, Stephen. A. “A Mystery of Heroism.” Elements of Literature.
Wilfred Owen's, ‘dulce et decorum est’ allows readers to see what actually happened during warfare, challenging the government's way of recruiting young soldiers (like Owen's at the time) via propaganda and the ideas of war. Owen's challenges these ideas through his poetry by creating sensory imagery through the dehumanization of the soldiers, and by creating irony through juxtaposition and the title. The dehumanization of the soldier is framed by depicting the reality of warfare to the audience by projecting sensory imagery throughout the poem. The government represented war to be for handsome, young, honourable men but Owen's is giving the readers imagery that contradicts those ideas.
... Instead of idealizing war in a romantic way, war poets such as Wilfred Owen aimed to expose gruesome truths about these wars and how they impacted lives. It points a finger and criticizes the governments and authorities that wage these wars but don’t fight in them themselves but rather watch as lives are lost. It exposes propaganda for what it is, a tool for brainwashing. It puts into question the notion of dying for ones country to be noble, honourable and admirable.
The speaker in "War is Kind" is an officer who grapples with his own conscience in an internal monologue. He is struggling with his feelings of guilt over leading younger soldiers into battle and his military responsibility to cover up the truth. One way of interpreting this poem is to consider that the officer is attending a traditional military funeral for one of his soldiers. This can be seen in the way the stanzas are set up in the poem. In the first, third, and fifth stanzas, the speaker appears to be consoling the weeping loved ones of a soldier who died in the war. This would normally be the job of an officer who leads a regiment into battle. Consoling the family members is a powerful tool for conveying the reality of war. Addressing loved ones of a deceased soldier illustrates the loss and suffering to be dealt with by those left behind. He speaks to a "maiden" (1), a "babe" (12), and a "mother" (23), thereby, conveying one of the most significant truths about wa...
In Stephen Crane’s poem, “War is Kind”, the basic theme of the poem can be compared to other themes in Civil War literature. The poem itself is ironic, stating that war is kind, when in reality, it is not. The theme is mostly the death of a soldier’s family members or loved ones. This is a recurring theme in most poems and stories about war. Crane uses imagery, alliteration, and so on to show his readers how he sees war.
Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” makes the reader acutely aware of the impact of war. The speaker’s experiences with war are vivid and terrible. Through the themes of the poem, his language choices, and contrasting the pleasant title preceding the disturbing content of the poem, he brings attention to his views on war while during the midst of one himself. Owen uses symbolism in form and language to illustrate the horrors the speaker and his comrades go through; and the way he describes the soldiers, as though they are distorted and damaged, parallels how the speaker’s mind is violated and haunted by war.
No details are spared as in each poem one is presented with a memory displaying the magnitude of war’s short and long-term effects. This hatred is expressed through the use of
The media also has a great impact on the minds of the public, like newspapers, televisions, radios, arouses the public’s interest and motivates the young generation to join the army and fight for the nation. However, there are artists who look at war in its very naked form. For example, the poet Wilfred Owen in his poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” demonstrates that no sweetness or honor is earned in dying for one’s country, instead humanity is taken away during war. In the first stanza, Owen uses strong metaphors and similes to convey a meaningful warning. The first line, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”, describes the soldiers tremendous exhaustion.