War Is Kind

by Stephen Crane

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Genres: Poetry, Classics, School, Audiobook, Fiction

34 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1899

About the author

Stephen Crane (1871-1900) was an American novelist, poet and journalist, best known for the novel, The Red Badge of Courage. That work introduced the reading world to Crane's striking prose, a mix of impressionism, naturalism and symbolism. He died at age 28 in Badenweiler, Baden, Germany.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Theo Logos · Rating 3 out of 5]

War Is Kind is a fair collection of poems that suffers by comparison to Crane’s earlier volume of poetry, The Black Riders and Other Lines. While the poems of that earlier volume came rushing out of the poet’s pen in a mere couple of months - a sustained burst of uncanny inspiration, these poems were collect over time and don’t pack quite the same electric punch.
There are a few exceptions. The title piece, War Is Kind, is a powerfully bitter, ironic poem. And the poems A Man Said to the Universe, and The Wayfarer could easily fit with Crane’s earlier inspired poems, as good as any in The Black Riders. But if you truly want to know the power of Crane’s poetry you should only read this volume after completing The Black Riders.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title poem is delightful satire. Generally, though, this collection lacks the arresting imagery & thematic unity of Crane’s Black Riders.

[Amelia Esguerra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did an explication of this poem for my senior seminar, Crane's satire is flawless.

[Malola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

So good, his rhymes are beautiful yet filled with content.
Really good description on our begaviour regarding truth and love.

[Darinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in The Stephen Crane Megapack: 94 Classic Works by the Author of The Red Badge of Courage.

A good collection of short poetry by Stephen Crane.

A couple of my favorites from this collection:
The wayfarer,
Perceiving the pathway to truth,
Was struck with astonishment.
It was thickly grown with weeds.
"Ha," he said,
"I see that none has passed here
In a long time."
Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife.
"Well," he mumbled at last,
"Doubtless there are other roads."
---
When the prophet, a complacent fat man,
Arrived at the mountain-top,
He cried: "Woe to my knowledge!
I intended to see good white lands
And bad black lands,
But the scene is grey."

For Crane's poetry, I liked The Black Riders and Other Lines better than War is Kind.

[ren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that "War Is Kind" may just be my favorite poem ever.

[amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

(not what the title suggests) one of my favorite poems i have ever read - very effective point

[Skylar Burris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of poetry was not nearly as provocative as Crane's The Black Riders. The most powerful poems in the series are "War is Kind" and "The wayfarer..." Both are extremely insightful and are often published in high school literary anthologies.

[Sara AlSinan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"These men were born to drill and die.
            Point for them the virtue of the slaughter,
            Make plain to them the excellence of killing
            And a field where a thousand corpses lie."

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic Stephen Crane, listened on an audio version

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads as indulgent and unfocused after the sparse, provocative and stark imagery of "The Black Riders".

[vivi · Rating 3 out of 5]

for school... again