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Stephen Crane University Press of Virginia. "Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind" and "A Man Said to the Universe" by Stephen Crane from The Works of Stephen Crane, edited by Fredson Bowers (Charlottesville: Virginia 1975). Reprinted/recorded with permission of the University of Virginia Press.

During Reading Strategy
Complete the Chart as You Read

Do not weep, maiden, for 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.
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,
10		Great is the Battle-God, great, and his KingdomÑ
		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,
15	Do not weep.
	War is kind.

Guided Reading Question 1
What happens to the lover?
Click to answer

		Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
		Eagle with crest of red and gold,
		These men were born to drill and die.
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,
25	Do not weep.
	War is kind.

Guided Reading Question 2
Does the speaker believe in the “virtue of slaughter” and the “excellence of killing”? What makes you think so?
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A Man Said to the Universe

A man said to the universe,
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”

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