Comparing Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est and Crane's Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind

Comparing Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est and Crane's Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind

Both Stephen Crane's "Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind" and Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" use vivid images, diction rich with connotation, similes, and metaphors to portray the irony between the idealized glory of war and the lurid reality of war. However, by looking at the different ways these elements are used in each poem, it is clear that the speakers in the two poems are soldiers who come from opposite ends of the spectrum of military ranks. One speaker is an officer and the other is a foot soldier. Each of the speakers/soldiers is dealing with the repercussions from his own realities of the horror of war based on his duty during the battle.

The speaker in "War is Kind" is an officer who grapples with his own conscience in an internal monologue. He is struggling with his feelings of guilt over leading younger soldiers into battle and his military responsibility to cover up the truth. One way of interpreting this poem is to consider that the officer is attending a traditional military funeral for one of his soldiers. This can be seen in the way the stanzas are set up in the poem. In the first, third, and fifth stanzas, the speaker appears to be consoling the weeping loved ones of a soldier who died in the war. This would normally be the job of an officer who leads a regiment into battle. Consoling the family members is a powerful tool for conveying the reality of war. Addressing loved ones of a deceased soldier illustrates the loss and suffering to be dealt with by those left behind. He speaks to a "maiden" (1), a "babe" (12), and a "mother" (23), thereby, conveying one of the most significant truths about wa...

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...and Consulted

Cather, Willa. "Stephen Crane's Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind." In Willa Cather on Writing: Critical Studies on Writing as an Art. Lincoln: Bison-U of Nebraska P, 1988: 67-74.

Crane, Stephen. “Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.” The Modern Age Literature. Eds Leonard Lief and James F. Light. 4th Ed. Holt, Rhinehart and Winston; New York, 1981. p. 137

Grualman, Robert Edward, Jr. "Wilfred Owen." Critical Survey of Poetry. English Language

Series. Rev. ed. 5. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Pasadena: Salem P, 1992. 2530-2531.

Kerr, Douglas. Wilfred Owen's Voices: Language and Community. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

Knapp, Bettina L. Stephen Crane. New York: The Ungar Publishing Company, 1987. 172-174.

Owen, Wilfred. “Dulce Et Decorum Est.” World War I British Poets. Ed. Candace Ward. Dover Publications, Inc; New York, 1997.