Protest War Literary Devices
Writers that have had first-hand experience of war typically tend to more efficiently protest it. First hand experience writers have the ability to do this because they have heard the murders, seen the destruction, and felt the effects. Authors who write about the negative impacts of war protest war through three important literary devices: imagery, irony, and structure.
Many authors use imagery as a way to give vivid descriptions which help to protest war. In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” he describes how he and his armed brothers were “coughing like hags” and added that they “cursed through sludge” (2). He put it this way so that it can be imagined just how rough being sick is and just how difficult it is to travel through the unpleasant mud. Owen later says he could hear “gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs” (22) of the men at every jolt of the wagon that they were flung into. His choice of descriptive words gives the reader a sense of how horrific the sound was coming from the dying men. Wilfred's use of imagery gives a clear picture in …show more content…
War is protested in the poem “War Is Kind” by Stephen Crane through the use of irony. The journalist/war correspondent speaks on the people and says that it is made “plain to them the excellence of killing” (21). The irony behind this statement is that it is known to people that murder is not considered an excellent thing. In a piece of “War is Kind” Crane makes a remark to his significant other about the death of her father. Crane says that in war her father “raged at his breast, gulped and died” (14) right before he ironically adds “Do not weep./War is kind” (15-16). The author is attempting to get his reader to see that just because people expect those to be okay after war incidents occur, they are not always going to be. Irony is used to protest war because it makes the reader stop and think about what it is that was just
Many authors use imagery as a way to give vivid descriptions which help to protest war. In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” he describes how he and his armed brothers were “coughing like hags” and added that they “cursed through sludge” (2). He put it this way so that it can be imagined just how rough being sick is and just how difficult it is to travel through the unpleasant mud. Owen later says he could hear “gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs” (22) of the men at every jolt of the wagon that they were flung into. His choice of descriptive words gives the reader a sense of how horrific the sound was coming from the dying men. Wilfred's use of imagery gives a clear picture in …show more content…
War is protested in the poem “War Is Kind” by Stephen Crane through the use of irony. The journalist/war correspondent speaks on the people and says that it is made “plain to them the excellence of killing” (21). The irony behind this statement is that it is known to people that murder is not considered an excellent thing. In a piece of “War is Kind” Crane makes a remark to his significant other about the death of her father. Crane says that in war her father “raged at his breast, gulped and died” (14) right before he ironically adds “Do not weep./War is kind” (15-16). The author is attempting to get his reader to see that just because people expect those to be okay after war incidents occur, they are not always going to be. Irony is used to protest war because it makes the reader stop and think about what it is that was just