How Kind?

            Warfare has been around since the beginning of mankind. It is always portrayed as a glorious calling, a rightful duty, and even a grand adventure. In Stephen Crane’s poem “War is Kind,” war is portrayed as a “glorious”, fruitless obligation. Through his engaging use of sarcasm, imagery, and apostrophe, Crane shows the uselessness and brutality of combat.

            The most obvious lyrical device the author uses is sarcasm. The lines “War is kind” (6, 17, 27) are used sarcastically because first of all, war is never kind. The very definition of warfare, which is acts taken to destroy an enemy, is not benevolent. Secondly, when used after lines such as “Raged at his breast, gulped and died” (15) they give a mocking tone. The line at fifteen tells of someone dying which is in no way nice. Later in the poem the poet goes so far as to mockingly call the act of killing of someone excellent. He writes, “Make plain to them the excellence of killing” (22). This goes against what has generally been taught to the public. Intentionally causing the death of someone is generally held to be wrong, but in war it is exactly what is needed. The contrast here of seemingly two different moral ideals further condemns war as evil. He then mentions the “battle-god” (11) which alludes to the belief of many ancient civilizations in a deity of war. By saying, “Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom- / A field where a thousand corpses lie” (11-12) he is showing us the cruelty of war. He shows this by comparing the general image of a god as wonderful to the image of multitudes of people lying dead, and therefore, he gives the acerbic representation of a horrific entity unlike many whom equate a god to a fine thing. In addition, many of his lines are repeated as for example, “These men were born to drill and die” (8, 20). This line shows how numerous countries have viewed there soldiers as nothing more than simply numbers on a sheet. Men are not born merely to fight and pass on is the point Crane is making.

            The next tool Crane utilizes is imagery. For example, he declares, “Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment / Little souls who thirst for fight” (7-8) which paints the picture of many new recruits standing on a battlefield eager for their first part of the war. The poet uses this to represent the eagerness with which civilizations destroy each other and by that further denounces warfare because destruction is certainly not kind. This is followed by, “Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom- / A field where a thousand corpses lie” (11-12) which shows the glories of battle and the domain these young men have captured. However, the realm they have conquered is a nothing more than their graveyard, and it represents the little that combat truly accomplishes.  Another set of lines show the glories that come with battle, for instance, “Swift blazing flat of the regiment” (18) and, “Eagle with crest of red and gold” (19). Here the author is telling us that war has its splendor, however, he later counters this when he says “These men where born to drill and die” (20) and, “A field where a thousand corpses lie” (23). By this he shows how soldiers are viewed as nothing more than items used for warfare, and also the vast numbers of people that die without any honor. One final line shows the agonies of death in warfare, “Raged at his breast, gulped and died” (15). This gives the mental image of someone grabbing their chest as if shot by a bullet, and sucking in one last breath of air before passing on which is not a very pleasant image of something that is supposedly “kind”.

            The final tool that the poet uses is apostrophe. The poem starts out as if the writer is talking to a lady. He says, “Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind/ Because your lover threw wild hands/ toward the sky” (1-3). This gives the poem some drama because it seems that someone is actually being addressed. The writer repeatedly tries to reassure the woman when he says “Do not weep./ War is kind” (6). This, however, is in a sarcastic tone because he merely goes on to account the brutalities of armed conflict, and by doing so makes combat seem much more brutal because a war is not kind, especially if all the atrocities listed happened. He even goes as far to say, “Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches” (14) which bring warfare closer to home for her by mentioning her father before reassuring her that “War is kind” (17). This device adds a striking amount of tension to the poem by bringing it to a person.

            Through Stephen Crane’s many uses of imagery and sarcasm and the added touch of apostrophe, war is successfully shown as the monster it truly is. Many times the conflict of nations can be passed off as glorious or nothing to be concerned with. However, in “War is Kind” Crane shows the there is nothing magnificent about war, and a field with thousands lying dead is certainly something to be concerned with.