Aim for FiveEnglish Literature

Poetry analysis

Crane's "War Is Kind": comfort that accuses

  • Unit 8
  • 6 points
  • About 40 minutes

You read one poem and write an essay analyzing how the poet uses literary elements and techniques to develop a complex idea the prompt names. You need a defensible thesis, specific evidence from the poem, and commentary explaining how it supports your reading. On the exam: Free-response question 1 of 3 in Section II (3 essays in 2 hours, 55% of the exam score); about 40 minutes suggested; 6 points: thesis 1, evidence and commentary 4, sophistication 1.

The question and its sources

Suggested time: 40 minutes, including reading and planning. Read the poem, plan, then write your essay in the box. The poem's lines are numbered so you can point to them, for example (lines 3–4). Words you may not know: affrighted (frightened), steed (horse).

War Is Kind

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
Line 5
War is kind.
Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The unexplained glory flies above them,
Line 10
Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom—
A field where a thousand corpses lie.
Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Line 15
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Line 20
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Line 25
Do not weep.
War is kind.

Source: Stephen Crane, "War Is Kind," from War Is Kind (1899). Public domain.

Suggested time: 40 minutes

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The essay

6 points

In the following poem by Stephen Crane, from a collection he published in 1899, a speaker addresses people who have lost someone in war. Read the poem carefully. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how Crane uses literary elements and techniques to convey the speaker's complex attitude toward war. In your essay: • State a thesis that answers the prompt with a defensible interpretation. • Choose evidence from the poem that supports your line of reasoning. • Explain how that evidence supports your line of reasoning. • Use grammar and punctuation that make your argument clear.

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