Amber Williams Mrs. Adams 11th American Lit/Comp 26 January 2018 How Writers Protest War “I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings..”. Siegfried Sassoon of World War I has dealt with many sufferings and war can change a person. It can scar them physically and mentally. It’s a dangerous situation that no one wants to see their loved ones go through. Many war victims have used writing to share experiences, honor those who have fallen, and also protest war itself. Poets like Stephen Crane, Wilfred Owen, and Siegfried Sassoon himself have used imagery, irony, and structure to protest war. Writers use descriptive words that make you feel an emotion to create imagery. It enhances their poems or stories and make the readers feel the point they are trying to get across. Veteran Stephen Crane; who fought in the Spanish-American War in 1898, has written poetry and fiction. In one of his poems titled War is Kind Crane shows us that war causes death …show more content…
Author Tim O’Brien served in the Vietnam War and has written The Things They Carried. O’Brien listed “the things they carried were largely determined by necessity”. He goes on with listing the “necessities” soldiers carried which included “P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, ...and two or three canteens of water.”, he talks about a man getting shot and then continues on with his list. War has made death to be expected which is mournful. Not only does Stephen Crane’s War is Kind use imagery and irony to protest war but he also uses structure. Crane tells the maiden to “do not weep...for war is kind” (1). He repeats this again is the third and fifth stanza which is all directed to the people back at home. This reminds us that war separates families which is one of the reasons Crane is protesting war through his