Compare the representation of the experience of war and attitudes towards it in Stephen Cranes Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind(TM) and Ronald Blythe(TM)s A Suffolk farmhand at Gallipoli June 19

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Compare the representation of the experience of war and attitudes towards it in Stephen Crane‘s ‘Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind’ and Ronald Blythe’s ‘A Suffolk farmhand at Gallipoli June 1915’.

        To compare is to examine two articles and discover similarities and differences between them. Extract A is a pre-twentieth century poem and extract B is an account about, but written several years after, the First World War.  Both the extracts are written by men. Stephen Crane, the writer of extract A, did not fight in any war because he was turned down due to ill health. However he became a war correspondent so did witness battles and gain some knowledge and experience of war. Ronald Blythe, is not the writer of extract B, he was the interviewer so the account has little input directly from him. This essay will examine the similarities and differences between their attitudes and experiences which are presented in the title, structure, themes, voice and language.

        Whilst the title of extract A, ‘Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind’, provides a reasonable amount of information about Crane’s attitude to war, the title of extract B does not. ‘A Suffolk farmhand at Gallipoli June 1915’ is informative about the context of the extract but it is matter-of-fact and expresses little of the Blythe’s attitude.

        The archaic title of ‘Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind’ creates a sense of ambiguity for the reader as it seems odd to describe the horror of war as ‘kind’. This suggests to the reader that the poet is using irony and implies an attitude which is negative of war. The word ‘maiden’ informs the reader that the poem is addressed to a woman. This makes the title sound like something which might be said to a worried or grieving woman at home in an attempt to comfort. The definition of ‘maiden’ is a young, unmarried woman and has connotations of innocence and naivety which in this case could be related to naivety about the true nature of war. It could be suggested that Crane is criticising the women in war who never have to know the horrors and reality.

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        In contrast the title of extract B offers little insight into Blythe’s attitude. However, the title does set up contrasts; the rural county of Suffolk, England compared to the exotic lands of Turkey and the danger free occupation of a farmhand with the life-endangering post of a soldier. The juxtaposition of the two situations could suggest that Blythe is trying to highlight how different the experience of war was to anything the men had witnessed before. The events in the account are dated as 1915 however the extract was not written until 1969. There is a significant amount of time ...

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