One of the tragic, eternal facts of human life is that there will always be wars – some the hideous, misguided choice of evil men and some “wars of necessity” but war all the same since the horror and indiscriminate agony caused by war is not changed by what designation war is given.
It is equally a fact that the brutality of war has inspired some of the greatest of mankind’s works of art – paintings of battle and destruction, music to stir the soul, some of the most powerful and moving prose and poetry ever written. It has been pointed out that hawks, those fierce and warlike birds of prey, do not sing. But war-poets most eloquently do. Certainly, for instance, remarkable works of the human spirit are inspired by wars in which good legitimately confronts evil. But, sadly, great poetry and music does not flow only from battlefields where just causes prosper.