Crane, Stephen. "Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind".

Summary

- an account of the horrors of war, claiming at the same time that "war is kind"

- young girl should not cry over her dead lover, a child should not weep for his father, a mother should not weep for her son for "war is kind"

- calls the field of thousand corpses the Kingdom of the Battle-God

- describes the battle atmosphere as swelling by "the unexplained glory" when killing is called "virtue"

Analysis

- a poem of a relatively traditional form, for Crane

- strongly ironic

- juxtaposes the horrors of war with the claim that "war is kind"

- refuses to attach any positive quality to anything related to war ("glory" cannot be associated with war)

- warns against the worship of war heroes