War Is Kind by Stephen Crane Poem Analysis

Stephen Crane's poem "War is Kind." The film begins with a man advising a girl not to mourn over her deceased boyfriend since war is gentle; the picture quickly shifts to a battlefield. The speaker observes that the troops in front of him were born to train and die; he also observes that the battle-god is magnificent. In the poem “ war is kind “, Crane conveys that war is a horror that isn’t “ kind” through the use of illusion, imagery, and tone.

For instance, the use of illusion is seen through stanza 1 “for war is kind, due to the fact your lover threw wild hands toward the sky” in line 26. Through these quotes and features, we understand that war is scary and dark.  The phrase “war is kind” is an ironic word, as it is tough to suppose that war is kind. According to Crane “for war is kind, due to the fact your lover threw wild hands toward the sky”. During this poem as it's repeated inside the twenty-six lines, The usage of phantasm emphasizes this idea, While we think about “war”, we think of all matters darkness and then the phrase “kind” we think of all matters pure. So for the phrase to be collected is ironic, You’re not certain what to think, so it offers you the phantasm that perhaps War is kind or not. But in this case, it is not kind. These features signal to the reader that the poem approaches the opposite of what it says, giving the phantasm. Also, notice that the phrase “war is kind” isn't backed up with any statements or statistics. Crane used verbal irony to emphasize the cruelty of battle that's showing us the truth of war, of taking human lives in war in the first, third, and last stanza. So even throughout the poem, it doesn’t indicate that “war is kind” . So, having the title “war is kind “ and the rest of the poem to be about struggles gives the illusion to a reader. Inconclusive illusion is proven throughout the poem, via this evidence that the phrase “war is kind” is nonetheless an illusion conveying the idea that war isn’t kind.

 Imagery is shown in stanza 2 “these men were born to drill and die” line 8. imagery is delivered by details in the poem to display pictures of the actions that are being described in each stanza. In stanza 2 the line “these men were born to drill and die” this is meaning that back in the times of the war every man was born to go to war and for the men to sacrifice their lives. The use of description of imagery indicates my thesis statement that war is not kind as much as it says in the phrase. We see imagery in this poem from the way Crane describes it in the second and fourth stanza. We see darkness in this line as it explains death, which would make a worker imagine all things dark. In addition it makes a reader imagine death, darkness, and nothing as to “war is kind”. It shows the real bad things that happen in war and the loss war brings to people. Showing its dark nature of the poem by it’s description of the war. The poem is almost saying how war doesn’t bring anything but fear and sadness. This leads back to our thesis that war is not kind.

“War is kind” is an ironic phrase that is used frequently in the poem as it is very hard to imagine kindness in war. The tone is present in this poem using sarcasm. . Stanza two it mentions “A field where a thousand corpses lie”. Crane uses a sarcastic tone, sounding like he is mocking war. And Readers are convinced that death is created from war. The title “War is kind” which is repeated in the poem frequently is ironic before it later mentions death and sadness after The words “thousand corpses” do not indicate to us that war is kind. It states that dead soldiers are laying on fields. That death is involved which doesn’t bring kindness, thus conveying the tone of the poem. Having the phrase “war is kind” repeated, sets the tone that this poem will tell us that it is a nice perspective about war. But then later in the poem, the rest of the poem is the opposite to what is supposedly kindness in war. It sets the mood of sympathy and sadness. The speaker does not mean that war is kindness, after he states the truth about the war in the poem. So it shows that the poet is being sarcastic writing thus persuading readers to question if war is kind or not.  

In conclusion in the poem “war is kind“ by Stephan Crane. The use of illusion, imagery, and tone is used in this poem to convey that war is not kind. We do not see kindness in this poem as Crane uses these features to show the truth about war. That we see sadness, darkness, and sympathy throughout the whole poem. And these feelings do not contribute to the word “kind”.