Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- How does the form of the poem relate to its meaning? Why all the five-line stanzas? What about the rhymes?
- How does the speaker make us feel? Or how does he want us to feel after reading the poem?
- What effect does the speaker achieve by saying "war is kind" instead of just, say, "war is awful"?
- In other words, why bother with irony, when you can just say things straight up?
- What is lost or gained by alternating between a more sympathetic, critical speaker and a more drill-sergeant like speaker?
- Is this a powerful poem? Why or why not?
- Does the fact that Stephen Crane witnessed war up close make this poem a more real or authentic indictment of war?