Symbols, Imagery, Wordplay
Form and Meter
"War Is Kind" is written in free verse. No, not "Free Bird," like the Lynyrd Skynyrd song. Free verse. Vers libre. Okay, so does that mean the verse is, like, not in chains or something? Actually,...
Speaker
What can we say? The speaker of "War is Kind" is a complicated man. He's clearly a military guy of some sort, one who both commands soldiers on the battlefield (stanzas 2 and 4) and is entrusted wi...
Setting
Did you notice while reading the poem that the odd-numbered stanzas are kind of different than the even-numbered stanzas? Did you also notice that in the even-numbered stanzas the speaker really tr...
Sound Check
War and the army. That's all we hear when we listen to this poem. The speaker is clearly some kind of military man, and he certainly talks like one, especially in that annoying refrain "Do not weep...
What's Up With the Title?
"War Is Kind"? War is kind?Not so much, bucko.We agree—this is a very strange title for a poem, especially when it becomes clear that the whole point of the poem is that war is, ahem, not kind at...
Calling Card
When scholars talk about Stephen Crane, they love to use the word "realism." Essentially, realism means exactly what you've probably guessed it does: making things look like they would in real life...
Tough-o-Meter
"War is Kind" is pretty straightforward. There aren't really any crazy or confusing words, and for the most part the sentences are pretty easy, if sometimes a bit long. The one tricky thing about t...
Trivia
Crane tried to attend college, but he spent more time playing baseball than attending class. It's a good thing this guy could spin a sentence. (Source.)Ready for a bummer? Crane was only 28 years o...
Steaminess Rating
This is a poem about war and death. Is it violent? Sure. Is it gory? You betcha. Is there anything steamy going on at all? Not a chance.