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War Is Kind Poem Analysis

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Many poems about the civil war convey universal themes of the time. Stephen Crane’s poem “War is Kind” is no different. The poem,“War is kind” written by Stephen Crane(1871-1900) has three themes common to civil war literature: Warfare, Home, and Patriotism. This poem’s overall theme is about how war destroys families conversely to the title of “War is Kind” or the many times which Crane says “War is Kind”. The three themes of warfare, home, and patriotism are displayed in many pieces of Civil War literature consequently making them the universal themes. Firstly is the theme of Warfare and destruction of families caused by it. To start off with the theme of Warfare is common in many civil war literature. “Do not weep, maiden, …show more content…

The definition of patriotism is pride in your country or cause, conversely the war is seen as unpatriotic because the men seem to be fighting for nothing. "Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment, /Little souls who thirst for fight, /These men were born to drill and die.”(Lines 6-8) This adds on to the idea of the war being unpatriotic by showing that the men were only born to fight, or to “Drill and Die” consequently making it seem as if they were fighting just to fulfill their needs. This theme is also seen in lines 17-18 “Swift, blazing flag of the regiment, / Eagle with crest of red and gold,”(Lines 17-18) This flag is a very simple representative of death and illness using the colors it did. This all helps to result in the patriotic theme of the poem by giving us a representation of how unpatriotic the war was. To conclude the poem “War is Kind” By Stephen Crane includes three universal themes commonly seen in many examples of civil war literature. The themes of warfare, war on the home front, and patriotism occur in the poem as well as many other pieces of civil war literature. The overall theme of the poem is how war is cruel and unkind making the poem seem like mockery to those who believe war is

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