In describing the exhaustion of both Henry and the other soldiers, Crane uses a series of similes, including “Henry remained on the ground like a parcel, ” and the men were so tired that they appeared “like men drunk with wine.” In addition, when Henry finally lies down, he is so tired that Crane describes the action as “The youth got down like a crone stooping,” and when the soldiers do sleep, they sleep under a night sky, a sky with “a handful of stars lying, like glittering pebbles, on the black level of the night.”
In Chapter 14, Crane’s use of simile to describe the sounds of war is very effective. Examples include, “This din of musketry, growing like a released genie of sound, expressed and emphasized the army’ plight.” His use of personification to describe the batteries’ need to breathe, as seen in the line, “The guns were roaring without an instant’s pause for breath,” leaves the reader longing to take a breath.
In Chapter 12, 13, 14, and 22, Crane includes several more instances of figurative language to describe the enemy, Henry, himself, the weapons of war, the officers, the troops, the battlefield, and the flag. The enemy becomes “a hound taking a mouthful of prisoners.” Henry is described in two similes as not “going to be badgered like a kitten chased by boys” and “When the enemy seemed falling back before him and his fellows, he went instantly forward like a dog.” Regarding weapons of war, examples of figurative language include Henry’s “[rifle] was an engine of annihilating power,” “his [Henry’s] rifle was [also] an impotent stick,” and “the voices of the cannon were mingled in a long and interminable row.”
To describe the officers’ actions in preparing the soldiers for an offensive, Crane uses a simile to make an understandable comparison: “[The officers] were like critical shepherds struggling with sheep.” Crane describes the regiment while resting as, “The regiment snorted and blew.” (This is what horses do after running. The horse metaphor works very well for a regiment that has just run across a battlefield.) The regiment is also described as being “the dejected remnant,” “the depleted regiment,” “a machine run down.” These images provide a picture of a tired group of men.
Crane, through Henry, identifies the flag metaphorically in the following manner, “It was a goddess. . . . It was a woman, red and white, hating and loving, that called him with the voice of his hopes” (examples of metaphor and personification).
Crane also combines a simile with the use of personification to describe Henry’s run across a battlefield: “The youth ran like a madman to reach the woods before a bullet could discover him.” This sentence combines a clear simile (“like a madman”) with a personification of the bullet—the bullet tries to “discover” Henry, discovery being a very human endeavor.
The use of personification in describing the smoke as “lazy and ignorant” helps the reader to feel the frustration of the troops. The use of smoke, haze, fog, and clouds as symbols for the confusion of war, for the atmosphere surrounding war, are constant throughout the novel.
At the same time that Crane describes the ugliness of war metaphorically, Crane also uses descriptive vocabulary words and figures of speech to highlight the beauty of nature in the midst of death and destruction. The reader should note the use of a flower metaphor in the image, “the shells looked to be strange war flowers bursting into fierce bloom.”
