"There Was Crimson Clash of War" by Stephen Crane
The poem talks about the consequences of the mental and physical violence that is associated with war. This is because Crane’s background was involved in fascination of war; hence he spread the inspiring messages through this poem. In this poem the speaker is an outsider who is trying to review a situation that he cannot understand.
“There came one who understood not these things”, (line 5), portrays a situation where a stranger who can not understand the situation developed by war. When the stranger tries to get the meaning by asking, "Why is this?”(Line 6), a multitude raise to answer him but the crowd could not be heard. As a result there was no message communicated, he could only hear “clamour of tongues”, (line 8. Consequently, the situation remained the same.
In my point of view the poem can be categorized as an example of both literary realism and naturalism. The literary realism in the poem is illustrated by how Crane illustrates present-day life and society the way they were. He illustrates the daily and banal experiences and activities without stylized or romanticized representation. For instance, after the clash of war, the land turned black and bare. This depicts how explosions and fire during war changes the color of the soil and destroys everything planted on it.
poem is in a category of naturalism because; crane is depicting an American naturalism through the study of human. The passion, instincts and experiences of the character in the poem are influenced by environment. In other words the writer tries to portray the fundamental forces that affect the behavior of subject. In this case the women are crying as the children ran and wonder because of the result of war that worsens the environment; “Lands turned black and bare”, (line 2).
Work cited
Stephen Crane. Works of Stephen Crane. Boston: MobileReference.com, 2010.
