Contrast In Do Not Weep Maiden For

War Is Kind Essay, Research Paper

Contrast in “Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War Is Kind”

In the poem “Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War Is Kind” by Stephen Crane, contrast is used to make a statement about the war. The poem shows the different view points of the war, how different people involved in the war, took the war.

The first, third, and last stanza talks about loved ones of the soldiers, and how they feel about the war. The second and fourth stanza talks about the action of the soldier, on the battlefield, and what a soldier has been trained for. By using that stratedgy, it shows how different the viewpoints of the families of the soldiers and the actual soldiers doing the fighting really are. The families didn’t see the absolute horror that was the front line. They didn’t see the the thousands of men killed each day. They didn’t see the millions of men who were wounded and probably wished that they were dead. Yet, they still thought that they understood what the war was about and what exactly was going on. The soldiers did see that, and more, everyday, everynight, never to not be faced with it.

The phrase “war is kind” is mentioned several times throught out the poem, which is not what most people would use to describe the war. That is probably the reason that the certain phrase was used. By saying that war is kind, it made the reader think, really think, about why would Crane use that phrase about the war. The reader then would figure out that the war wasn’t kind, and think of reasons why it wasn’t kind. That wouldn’t have happened if Crane had stated that the war is not kind in the first place. By using a phrase that isn’t usually one that describes the war, it involves a deeper level of thinking then just reading it and regestring it into the mind.

The poem holds a lot of contrast within itself. Each contrast that is used, though, helps the reader understand that war was not good, even for the families. But it was extremely worse for the soldiers who fought in the war. The poem isn’t about any certain war, either. Any war in the past, present, or future could be described by this poem. No war is good, and no war was any worse than another, from a soldiers point of view.