The articles under consideration are two poems; “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy and “War Is Kind” by Stephen Crane. The two poems talk about war and its effects on society. In the first poem, “The Man He Killed,” the narrator remembers an incident in a war where he killed a man with a gunshot.
The narrator suggests that if they had met in a pub, then perhaps he would not have killed him. He further explains how this killing took place and how he actually committed the murder. Finally, the narrator lacks a concrete reason for the crime. The second poem, “War is Kind,” begins with the narrator encouraging a young lady not to weep because of the death of her lover. He abruptly changes the plot to a battlefield where he sees many soldiers ready to kill in front of him. Again, the plot changes to a place where the narrator encourages a young child not to weep over the body of his dead father for “war is kind.” The poem ends with the narrator encouraging a mother who stands fixedly on the ground gazing at his son who is killed, telling her, “Do not weep; war is kind.” Imagery is an important aspect of a poetry work and should be keenly analyzed in order to get the deeper meaning of any poetry work.
In the above two poems, a lot of imagery is used to convey a specific message. The images used in these poems are very essential in communicating the actual experience of the theme addressed for our case war. In the poem “War Is Kind,” the writer uses a number of imagery, which we shall consider just but a few.
The writer alludes to war to death. In line two of the poem, the writer says, “Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky.” This, he says t,o really means that the maiden’s lover has actually passed on. This man has actually died in the battle, in a war. This he says to avoid saying that he died. The man could not be throwing his arms toward the sky, perhaps out of annoyance. The maiden otherwise would not have wept. This is actually what happens in the real world of war! Individuals actually die. The horse running alone in this poem is an image of the death of the maiden’s lover. On the actual battlefield, horses are usually ridden by soldiers.
In line six of the poem, the writer uses imagery of drums becoming hoarse. This would refer to the sound of the drum. This would signify that the drums have been used for a long time, and now they are beginning to lose their voice and sound, so to speak. Notice also the drums boom. A sound usually associated with bombs in warfare. It is somehow strange that despite the fact that the drums are hoarse, they still boom. The drums becoming hoarse primarily symbolizes the length of time they have been used. In the real war, the bombs and missiles are constantly used to fight the enemy.
In line eight of the poem, we find soldiers being drilled and being killed. It is naturally animals that are being drilled and killed. Here, the writer uses animals to represent men. Actually, in warfare, human beings are usually slaughtered like animals. Again, in line nine, the word “glory” is used as imagery for a flag. Soldiers are drilled and killed below it! This imagery is used to depict patriotism. Soldiers fighting for their own country.
In the poem “The Man He Killed,” the writer does not use a lot of imagery; however, we can still look into a few examples. In the seventh line, the writer states that, “I shot at him as he at me”. This imagery depicts a war in which people battle to defeat their opponents. In the next line, the writer says, “I shot him dead because-Because he was my foe.” This would vividly explain that it is actually our foes whom we fight and not our members.
Imagery is thus an important element of poetry work that should be employed by any poet so as to conceal the real meaning intended. This would make a poem more appealing. The imagery employed should depict clearly the message intended by the writer. It should not be out of context.
Work Cited
Thomas Hardy, 1902 (“Had he and I but met by some old ancient inn, we should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipperkin!”)
Stephen Crane, 1899 (“Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind. Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky”)
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