Use of the phrase “War is Kind”
The phrase “War is Kind” has been repeated throughout the poem for various reasons. The speaker firstly uses the phrase to introduce readers to the aspect of irony. War is expressed as being kind while, in reality, conflict is known to bring suffering, destruction of property, and loss of life. In any means, the statement “War is Kind” remains the anti-thesis of the reality of battle hence the aspect of war. The statement is also used to symbolize the end of worries and suffering in the soldiers’ families. For instance, the mother, the maiden, and the babe had endured pain and worries when their family members went to war (Crane, 2016). Once they learn of the demise of their loved ones, their fears end; hence war becomes kind to them. War is also kind to the soldiers who have no other purpose in life than fighting and killing. The soldiers undergo some of the tumultuous experiences on the battlefield and have to live with the consequences post the war. Those that die on the battlefield can consider war as kind as it helps them escape suffering following the war.
The speaker addresses the maiden, mother, and the babe encouraging them not to weep. The statement, in this case, is taken to encourage them to let go of their loved ones as they suffered a great deal in the battlefield. For instance, the father is explained to have died in a yellow trench, whereby the color yellow depicts unsanitary conditions. Through death, the soldiers had eventually found peace. The soldiers are like small puppets created with a single purpose of killing or being killed. Weeping for them would be a sign of glorifying war and those behind the same.
The two stanzas set off addresses different audiences with the second and fourth addressing the battlefield and how society supports war despite full knowledge that conflicts do not bring any good to the people. Stanzas one, three, and five, on the other hand, revert to the aspect of compassion whereby the speaker encourages the maiden, son, and a babe not to weep since they had no control over the events of the war. The set-off addresses the impact of war on the people and how helpless the soldiers to escape the same. They are described as “little souls” of war who do not have as much control as the broader public often assumes (Crane, 2016). They are shown as individuals who follow unexplained glory that is rather death more than any significant gains.
The statement “These men were born to drill and die” is repeated often in the poem. The aspect of repetition is used to emphasize the ideology behind the life of soldiers. From their training, they are transformed into killing machines who consider killing enemies a virtue. At the same time, the battlefields remain quite challenging, and the soldiers often face their demise in the same as they chase the unexplained glory. The repetition shows that different soldiers serve a similar cause of executing killing orders and face a similar outcome every time they step into the battlefield. It emphasizes the un-usefulness of war and designing young generations to die in the vents of war. Additionally, the line is repeated to increase the rhythm and musicality of the poem, an aspect that creates entertainment to the readers while also increasing the ability to remember the same.
The speaker uses the phrase “A field where a thousand corpses lie” to pass the same message in both stanzas. The expression, in this case, is used to show the nature of soldiers whose primary purpose remains killing enemies to glorify their masters. The soldiers described as “little souls” are on the battlefield with battle-god whom they seek to appease. The troops only accomplish success after annihilating all the enemies who now lie dead in large numbers. The battle-god is pleased with such outcomes as the soldiers seem to have achieved the task of killing enemies and in large quantities (Crane, 2016). The society celebrates when the enemy has been reduced to dead bodies by the tireless soldiers. The fourth stanza takes place on the battle-field, whereby the soldier is described as a killing machine drilled to take out enemies. A soldier that kills many enemies on the battlefield gains glory from his team and superiors alike.
The speaker does not believe that “war is kind” in any way. The phrase is used to express irony on the part of the speaker who sees war as a disgrace and cataclysmic event that only causes suffering and loss of lives. He believes the society should not continue to send sons and daughters to battlefields only to return home as dead. He does not want the audience to believe that war could have any positive outcome. He believes that wars are misleading, and the soldiers are duped from the beginning as they seem to chase unexplained glory in the harshest conditions possible. According to him, wars are dirty affairs that set soldiers on their death trip for the limited glory of those organizing the same.