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Essay the impact of war on literature and society
Essay on war poetry in literature
Essay on war poetry in literature
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War Is Kind Poem Analysis
“Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” was once stated by John F. Kennedy. Stephen Crane uses a variety of figurative language devices such as irony, oxymoron, imagery, similes, and metaphors to express his thoughts on war. One of the first figurative language devices, the author uses to express his viewpoints on war, is an oxymoron. The author, Stephen Crane, uses oxymorons in the poem, “Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind”, to express how cruel war can be. In his poem, Crane, made the statement “[excellence] of killing”, but he means the opposite. There is actually nothing excellent about killing, so it shows how war is full of death, which is pretty horrible. In the poem, “Do Not
This is the poem that Jim Northrup wrote about war. I am going to Explicate the poem and
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.
War is a brutal, bloody battlefield from which no one returns unscathed. Nonetheless, there are those who believe war to be a glorious honor, a bedtime story filled with gallant heroes, a scuffle fought an ocean and several countries away. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce and “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury, the authors seek to convey the devastation that comes from romanticizing war by using impersonal and ironic diction.
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 from opposite ends of the spectrum of military ranks. One speaker is an officer and the other is a foot soldier. Each of the speakers/soldiers is dealing with the repercussions from his own realities of the horror of war based on his duty during the battle.
"The historian Will Durant calculated that there have been twenty nine years in all of human history during which a war was not underway somewhere." (Hedges, 2003). In fact more than half of my lifetime has consisted of the United States, my country, being at war. It is sad to know that I have no experienced peace. It is also alarming because I, like my peers, have become somewhat immune and numb to war. We have come to think of it as just another issue going on, and do not really see it as the drastic event that it really is. It is something that is just there; just in the background.
Vivid imagery is one way with which writers protest war. Crane uses imagery to glorify, and shortly thereafter demean and undercut war, through the use of imagery, by placing positive and negative images of war close to eachother. “Blazing flag of the regiment,” and “the great battle God,” are placed before “A field where a thousand corpses lie.” (A) These lines’ purposes are to put images into the reader’s head, of how great war may appear, and then displaying that there are too many casualties involved with it. In Dulce Et Decorum Est, a man is described dyin...
are not free in service, you do what you are told and this is the same
War and its ramifications for those who are unfortunately entangled in it, is an issue that has fueled both political discussion and literary exploration throughout the previous century. Underived, authentic accounts of the experience and effects of war, from those who have served in it, can be especially enlightening for the majority of society who have had the fortune of not being intimately familiar with war. Through the examination of poems and stories written by soldiers, who were inspired by their involvement in conflict, one can obtain a greater understanding of this gruesome aspect of life, without having to directly experience it. Similarly, soldier turned poet, Bruce Weigl, has contributed his perspective on war through his literary
The descriptions of war that he read in magazines were usually dry and too matter-of-fact. He also believed that they lacked connection to the real emotions that are brought about by warfare; “dates and locations of battles cannot even begin to reproduce the essence of combat” (“Naturalism”). Due to his yearning to learn more and provide a realistic representation of war, Crane researched many aspects of the battlefield and often referred to scenes he wrote about as “skirmishes on the football field” (“Biography of Stephen Crane”). Ultimately, Crane “saw the opportunity to craft the first novel that explored warfare from the point of view of the psyche” and he “attempt[ed] to show that humans were not designed to commit such atrocities on each other”
Stephen Crane’s approach to writing about war struck oddly with the reader right from the beginning. Thoughts running through the youth’s head do not sound like those of a hero. He has no purpose in this war, yet he fights in it anyway. The lack of a mighty American lumberjack hero as a protagonist immediately sets this story on a different track than the usual romantic, vivid, traditional, honorable accounts of war. The youth has no idea what he is getting himself into.
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.
War is a universal phenomenon, it is a violent tool people use to accomplish their interests. It is not autonomous, rather policy always determines its character. Normally it starts when diplomacy fails to reach a peaceful end. War is not an end rather than a mean to reach the end, however, it does not end, and it only rests in preparation for better conditions. It is a simple and dynamic act with difficult and unstable factors which make it unpredictable and complex. It is a resistant environment where the simplest act is difficult to perform. In this paper, I will argue why war is a universal phenomenon and what are the implications of my argument to strategists.
Crane’s acknowledgement of rebirth remains to be the strongest contrast to the stereotype of a civilian writing of war. The novel’s ending lines, “Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds” (Crane 100), appear to express relief from battle and a pleasant rejoice for the reader’s young heroes. However, Crane means the quote to forebode the constant rebirth of battle and the never ending reality of war. The final words of Crane correlates with Robert Frost’s most famous
War is controversial, unfortunate, and certainly misunderstood; it is a transforming agent, a catalyst for change. Nonetheless, many people focus on war's negative consequences, while positive effects are downplayed. War is a necessary evil in the sense that it stabilizes population, encourages technological advances, and has a very high economic value. Without war, the overpopulation of the human race is inevitable. It is this reason that war is a useful tool by not only Mother Nature, but also humans themselves to institute population control.
The famous British anti-war poet, Wilfred Owen contextual influence as a soldier in WW1 is omnipresent in his work as he reflects on the sanctity of human life, consequently of the physically and psychology torture in World War One. “Above all I am not concerned with poetry, my subject is war and the pity of war, the poetry is in the pity, all a poet can do today is mourn. That is why true poets must be truthful” Owen here expresses his own opinion that war is not a game played for honour or respect it is a matter of life and death which the innocent should not fall prey to. Owen’s Poetry; Dulce et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth, endorses the reader’s views on war, as well as conveying his own perspective on how individuals are dehumanised