The War Prayer by Mark Twain is a poem that talks about the historical context of war. By reading the poem, one realizes that the act of war is an occurrence that has been with humanity since historical times. The poem aims to reveal that historically, people prepared adequately for the war. They did not just wake up one morning and left for the battlefield. According to the author, the fighters recited prayers and sang patriotic songs that showed that they respected and were ready to defend their flag (Rasmussen 550). The author also reveals that the soldiers went through prayers sessions with the aim of seeking help, protection, and guidance from God. According to the poem, the historical soldiers who took part in the war or who formed the battalions were not as trained as the ones in the modern generations. The poem reveals that the soldiers were chosen randomly while others volunteered to take part in the war. On the same …show more content…
According to the poem, people did not just go to war for the sake of it. However, they went to the battlefield to protect and defend their flag, protect their citizens, and to achieve patriotism while at war. The moral requirement of the war made it clear that it was fine to attack the country that waged war against the other. Similarly, the moral nature of the war did not allow the people to attack others aimlessly. Unlike modern times when war could be waged by a small group of people launching terror attacks on the country or community, they had a vendetta for peace. The historical type of war was launched against one nation that aimed to overthrow the other. The war of the olden days is unlike the current modern days when even individuals can plot and wage war against a nation and its people. On the other hand, soldiers in most countries have modern types of training and use sophisticated methods to attack and take on their
This passage shows how the soldiers are emotionally and mentally drained by the horrors of war, and how they feel disconnected from the world they once knew. The
In Komunyakaa’s “CtC” the poem focuses on a group of soldiers who are
The soldiers had been trained for an ideal war, and the one they were thrown into was far different. The once true ideals of the men were destroyed in the war, and eventually they like most men were killed. Men were like a number on the battlefield. People fought
Bierce’s “Chickamauga”, Howell’s “Editha,” and Twain’s “The War Prayer” all offer strong attacks against the sentiment that war is glorious and holy. Each of the stories takes place during one of the American Wars. All of the short stories show how society at the time viewed war, also the true horrors of the war through realism. Each story uses a different techniques to prove that war isn’t holy or glorious at all.
These soldiers face an incomprehensible experience, suffering through the loss of a close and needed comrade, which propels them to become stronger fighters. Fighting with one less men can alter the vigor needed in tough battles, but troops learn to persevere, in order to improve their
When talking about war, there are many books with few answers to what war truly is. Barbara Ehrenreich brings forth not only the possibilities towards understanding war but also the passion people from history have had towards it. One key issue she brings to light is humanities love for war, so much so that people would use excuses like holy wars to justify their need to fight in a war. She declares that war is as muddled as the issue of diseases and where diseases came from around 200 years ago. More so than that she even goes further on to state that these rituals that date back to prehistoric times are the cause of human nature during times of war rather than human instinct.
This metaphor displays his uncertainty as per his crucial part in that moment in time. The soldier pictures himself as the hand on a clock, subject to the inevitable force of a clockwork motor that cannot be slowed or quickend. He realises that he does not really know why he is running and feels “statuary in mid-stride”. However, towards the end of the poem, all moral justifications for the existence of war have become meaningless- “King, honour, human dignity, etcetera Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm”, which is extremely dismissive of all the motives people provide for joining the army, explicitly stating that those motives do not justify and do not withstand the war. Disorientation is also highlighted in the line “Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedge That dazzled with rifle fire” where the confusion between the natural world and man-made world is expressed.
Victory for War In The War Prayer by Mark Twain,he talked about soldiers going to war and it relates kind of to all the wars that have happened before. He talks a lot about describing what the soldiers would go through and their families. He explained how soldiers were really patriotic about the war and the families saying a “ long prayer”. Twain uses satire to express what he thinks about war throughout his prompt he's describing about war and all the praying they did towards the soldiers who left to fight.
Literary Analysis The War Prayer was written by Mark Twain in the nineteenth century Imperialism. Twain uses satire to exploit the stupidity of war. In his prose, Twain explains the ghastliness of war and how people are praying to God for safety of their troops but they do not care if the opposing sides troops die. Twain uses satire in The War Prayer to make fun of the people praying for their side to win the war and the glorification of war. “It was a time of great and exalting excitement (Twain).”
In the poem, “What Every Soldier Should Know”, Brian Turner, details the ever-present threat of death in a war zone. This poem expesses not only the terror of the American soldiers, but also exemplifies the emotions that the Middle Eastern soldiers feel towards the American soldiers. The soldiers are experiencing death, chaos, and disorder, but for some of the middle eastern people, they experience that every day. A lot of Middle Eastern people are normal people, defending their home land, their family, and their country.
The poem aims to glorify soldiers and certain aspects of war, it goes on to prove that in reality there really isn 't good vs bad on the battlefield, it 's just a man who "sees his children smile at him, he hears the bugle call, And only death can stop him now—he 's fighting for them all.", and this is our hidden meaning.
Patriotism is the love that people feel for their country; in the novel 1984, George Orwell consistently utilizes a three sentence slogan to illustrate a world with patriotism taken to the extremes. These sentences are “War is peace” where individuals accept the constant warring, “Freedom is slavery” where the people ignore their own thoughts, “Ignorance is strength” where the individuals blindly follows the Party’s orders. Through this slogan, Orwell describes a future where the ignorant and loyal prevail and support an endless war. The first phrase “War is peace” advocates war because it promotes patriotism and devotion to the country.
Throughout human history, war has been a common solution to settle conflict or disagreements between people. War has and will always be apart of this world, because no matter how much death it causes humans will never change. Some people have come to see the idiocy in war and have even written about it in poems, short stories, etc. One of these people, Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, has mocked this absurd and pointless practice. Twain’s essay The War Prayer satirizes the customs of praying for safety and victory in war and for equating war with patriotism.
/ War is kind,” to showcase the fact that war is ugly and painful not only for those who perish in it (the men whose deaths are described), but also for those who grieve because of it (the women whose lives are forever changed by war). Additionally, verbal irony can be found in stanzas two and four, in which Crane chooses words that, taken literally, speak of the glory of war in order to highlight the shame of it. For instance, Crane writes, “These men were born to drill and die / The unexplained glory flies above them / Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom – / A field where a thousand corpses lie” (Crane 8-11).
In these writings authors use literary devices such as structure to advance their purpose. Stephen Crane’s “War Is Kind” implements structure to protest war. Stanzas one, three, and five are all structured the same. This helps with his purpose because he keeps repeating some of the same lines to give the poem emphasis. He emphasizes it to show that war is glorious and to make the reader cry.