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War Is Kind

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War Is Kind
War is Kind
In Stephen Cranes poem “War is Kind,” He uses repetition, tone and imagery, to communicate his theme: war is not kind, it is horrible.
Repetition is the most prominent literary element used by the author. One of the most repeated phrases is "war is kind." Not only does it appear in the title, but it is repeated in lines 15, 12, 16, and 26. Crane illustrates that he is being verbally ironic. He does not mean that war is kind, but that war creates Misery. The phrase "do not weep" is also repeated several times throughout the poem. The phrase is repeated five times throughout the poem.
The title shows the ironic tone of the poem, because it is very hard to imagine kindness in war. The beginning stanza confirms the tone while it addresses the lover of a soldier who has died in battle. The author tells the lover not to leave her soldier at death. Followed by an overdramatic image of death, with the dying soldier throwing his " wild hands towards the sky dictand the affrighted running on alone."
Also, Crane uses imagery, “to show the gruesomeness of war. The “eagle with crest of red and gold” is a symbol of America in the war. The young men fight for this symbol and for the freedom of America, but the men think that they don’t have a choice in the war.
In conclusion I was able to comprehend Stephen Crane’s poem “War is Kind.” I see this poem as Crane expressing his anger towards the pointless death of young men in war. Crane’s philosophy about war seems to be that death is glorified, and that the military throws away young men’s lives and tears families apart. The poem seems to glorify war, but in an ironic, sarcastic manner so that Crane’s true feeling about war are

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