Compare And Contrast Do Not Weep Maiden For War Is Kind And Nothing Gold Can Stay

The death that war constantly supplies and the beauty and complexity of nature are easily seen as opposites. One brings despair and agony, while the other brings calmness and appreciation. However, they can be linked by how they are proven in Stephen Crane’s "Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War is Kind" and Robert Frost’s "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Crane’s poem is written from the perspective of someone telling the families of dead soldiers, whose lives were lost in war, not to cry because they died for a noble and glorious cause. On the contrary, Frost’s poem explains the beauty of nature and how the seasons never fail to progress. Both authors use various literary devices to prove their themes; however, three are prevalent in each. The use of paradox,

In "Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War is Kind," the first example of a paradox is "War is kind" (Crane 5). War and kindness are exact opposites, as war results in the loss of millions of lives and the destruction of even more families, and kindness is associated with positivity and light. Therefore, linking war with any positive connotation is absurd. By characterizing war as kind despite its mass death, Crane's paradox demonstrates how it can be covered with glory, as the two concepts of kindness and glory are closely linked. The phrase "Great, and his kingdom—/ A field where a thousand corpses lie" (Crane 10-11) is used again in the first poem. This kingdom refers to that of the god of war, Aeries, which in this case represents war itself. This quote therefore depicts war as a location for thousands of deaths, something that is negative. However, it is still referred to as "great," creating a paradox. By easily associating war with greatness, this paradox

The use of each of these different devices goes to show how two different poems, even if their themes are exact opposites, can be very similar. While one of these poems is about the horrors of war and the other is about the sheer beauty of nature, three shared devices manage to connect these ideas. Crane wrote his poem about war because he had witnessed firsthand the effects and devastations of it, so this specific theme was chosen to show these reactions. He might have written this poem as a way to comfort the families of dead soldiers or to plainly show the mistake of covering up the deaths. On the other hand, Frost wrote his poem about the beauty of nature to encourage people to reconnect with nature, as this generation had become detached from its beauty. Both poets had different reasons for picking their themes but were similar in their use of devices to prove their