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Early American Literature by Stephen Crane and Robert E. Lee About War
American Literature consisted of many well known writers. These writers wrote excellent pieces of literature which are widely read today. These writers wrote about some aspect of American life, and they depicted America very well.
Some of these writers are Stephen Crane and Robert E. Lee. Lee wasn't exactly a writer, but he wrote a good piece of literature which really showed the peoples attitude during this time.
War was a major topic in American Literature. During this time America was just developing and many wars occurred. The wars affected the people and their everyday lives because many of their loved ones were dying. The Americans didn't like war and they were tired of sending their people out to war. Two authors that conveyed this war time really well were Stephen Crane and Robert E.
Lee.
Stephen Crane depicted the attitudes of Americans at that time really well. In his poem "War Is Kind" he shows us how tired Americans were of war.
This poem is very strong and emotional because he gives us mental images of how horrible war is. In this piece Crane keeps repeated "war is kind". These three words really show how he and other Americans felt about war. He is not saying that war is good. He is saying this in a sarcastic way. For example, he talks about how peoples loved ones are dying. And then later he says "Do not weep.
War is Kind." In this poem he really shows us that Americans were really tired of war.
In the "Letter to His Son" Robert E. Lee also depicts his attitude, as well as other Americans, towards war very well. Many Americans hated war, but still some were very patriotic. Robert E. Lee was definitely one of them. In this letter he talks about how he hates war but he will fight for his country if he has to. Many Americans at this time felt this way.
Sandy Kempners rendition of his time in Vietnam makes evident that his placement in war is more forceful than voluntary. His use of numerous rhetorical techniques establishes the negative attitude that he has towards war. Sarcasm, parallelism, and satire effectively make this letter home a successful example of an anti-war sentiment.
On the other hand there are some people that have criticized the poem. They say that "Jarrell should not tell the horrors of war and let the people find it out when the have to go to war.
There are many things in this world that are impossible to understand without first hand experience.This can be especially irritating for people who have the knowledge, but see everyone else with the wrong idea. Philip Larkin and Wilfred Owen show this in their poems about the common misconception of war glorification. Through imagery and the use of similes, they explain what it's really like for a person to go into battle. To outsiders, fighting in war is a noble cause worthy of envy and praise, but from the inside perspective the only thing war does is take away the innocence of
Stephen Crane, author of The Red Badge of Courage, in regards to the American Civil War once despondently wrote, “It was not well to drive men into final corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws” (Crane). Such describes the desperate and harrowing atmosphere of the time during which Abraham Lincoln was president of the United States. As Abraham Lincoln once perspicaciously reflected upon the significance of the Civil War, "The struggle of today is not altogether for today — it is for a vast future also" meaning that the war was paramount to the survival of the union and thus, one of the most momentous occurrences of American history (Lincoln). Nathaniel Hawthorne, a transcendentalist and author of The Scarlet Letter, cogitated upon the significance of having Lincoln as president during the Civil War while simultaneously conveying the idea that he deeply venerated president Lincoln for his strength of character in times of dire crisis. Hawthorne employs the use of vivid imagery, scintillating diction, striking juxtaposition as well as a reverent tone to effectively accomplish his purpose of conveying the fact that while Lincoln is superficially unprepossessing, his approachable attitude and his insightful nature make him an excellent president.
...hermore, going to war was an act of cowardice. He had to put aside his morals and principles and fight a war he did not believe in.
speech, Patton also makes the statement, "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his
Jones, Peter G, War and the Novelist: Appraising the American war Novel. University of Missouri Press, 1976. 5-6. Rpt. in Literary Themes for Students, War and Peace. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 449-450. Print.
War is not meant to be glorified. War is not meant to look easy. Stephen Crane was one of the few authors during his era who realized this fantasy-like aura around war and battles and decided to do something about it. The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, was inspired by Crane’s life and his desire to portray the realistic side of war.
that it wasn't the case. He found out that war wasn't all fun and games. What it actually was
He starts off by stating there are contradictions that lay within the nation. He explains that before the war, the country was living oppressed and the motives for the war was equality and freedom for all. When he says “ But that days has happily
The world of Stephen Crane's fiction is a cruel, lonely place. Man's environment shows no sympathy or concern for man; in the midst of a battle in The Red Badge of Courage "Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process in the midst of so much devilment" (89). Crane frequently anthropomorphizes the natural world and turns it into an agent actively working against the survival of man. From the beginning of "The Open Boat" the waves are seen as "wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall" (225) as if the waves themselves had murderous intent. During battle in The Red Badge of Courage the trees of the forest stretched out before Henry and "forbade him to pass. After its previous hostility this new resistance of the forest filled him with a fine bitterness" (104). More omnipresent than the mortal sense of opposition to nature, however, is the mortal sense of opposition to other men. Crane portrays the Darwinian struggle of men as forcing one man against another, not only for the preservation of one's life, but also the preservation of one's sense of self-worth. Henry finds hope for escape from this condition in the traditional notion that "man becomes another thing in a battle"‹more selfless and connected to his comrades (73). But the few moments in Crane's stories where individuals rise above self-preservation are not the typically heroicized moments of battle. Crane revises the sense of the heroic by allowing selfishness to persist through battle. Only when his characters are faced with the absolute helplessness of another human do they rise above themselves. In these grim situations the characters are reminded of their more fundamental opp...
speech because it was his book and he knew all the facts. My initial impression of the speaker was
On November 1st, 1871 a future pioneer of realism, Stephen Crane, was born. Stephen was born the 14th child of Mary Helen Crane and Reverend Doctor Jonathan Crane. Because his father was an elder of the Newark Methodist Church, Stephen was constantly moving between parsonages with his family. As a child Stephen was incredibly smart, teaching himself to read and write before the age of 4. His father died in 1880, and Crane’s mother took him to Asbury Park, New Jersey. There Stephen was exposed early to writing from his mother’s religious papers. Mary Crane had even lectured for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. One of Stephen’s brothers was even a reporter for the New York Tribune.
If it was not for Stephen Crane and his visionary work than American Realism would not have taken hold of the United States during the eighteen hundreds. During the years following the Civil War America was a melting pot of many different writing styles. Many scholars argue that at this time there was still no definite American author or technique. Up to this point authors in the Americas simply copied techniques that were popular in regions of Europe. Stephen Crane came onto the scene with a very different approach to many of his contemporaries. He was a realist, and being such he described actions in a true, unadorned way that portrayed situations in the manner that they actually occurred (Kaplan). He had numerous admired pieces but his most famous work was the Red Badge of Courage (Bentley 103). In this novel he illustrates the accounts of a Union soldier named Henry Fleming. At first the writing was considered too graphic and many people did not buy the book. Eventually the American people changed their opinions and began to gravitate towards Crane’s work. The readers were fascinated by the realistic environment he creates even though he himself had never fought in a war (Bentley 103). By spreading the influence of realistic writing Crane has come to be known as the first American Realist.
in his poems. There is also the view that war has turned into a cycle,