Stephen Crane and Gwendolyn Brooks

Stephen Crane and Gwendolyn Brooks “Do Not Weep Maiden for War Is Kind” a poem by Stephen Crane is written in a way that reveals how war is an atrocious creature through verbal irony. In “The Sonnet-Ballad” by Gwendolyn brooks, she portrays death as a flirtatious lady. Both of these authors do an extraordinary job in using imagery and irony to sketch their thoughts about death and war. Through the use of imagery Brooks characterizes the coquettish death and how her loved one was fooled into betraying Gwendolyn and running away with death. Brooks’s lover sees death as a beautiful woman; she slowly pulls him in until he is no longer living. “Possessive arms and beauty can make a hard man hesitate-and change.” Brook sketches great imagery of how this glamorous flirty death fooled a man and changed him forever. In a correlative way, Crane uses repetitive imagery all through the poem to also emphasize the horrid acts of death. “Do not weep babe for war is kind. Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches, raged at his breast, gulped, and died.” How can Crane make it any clearer? Death is cruel and careless.
Gwendolyn Brooks and Stephen Crane also put irony to work in their poems. When you read Cranes title for the poem you automatically have a feeling of sarcasm and irony. “Do Not Weep Maiden for War is Kind.” This is an incredible use of irony by the writer Stephen Crane. If we were to ask a million people, I believe very high numbers of people would say war is not a kind thing. Crane uses this technique not because he’s stupid or because he doesn’t know how to write but instead he uses it to create a great emphasis on the fact that war is not kind. “These men were born to drill and die.” Here we have another example of the great use of Cranes irony. Men are not born to just drill and die. We all agree in that. All through history great men existed and they did not just drill and died, they worked and achieved great levels of knowledge. “Would have to