AD by Kenneth Fearing Poem Analysis

This poem was very interesting and used a lot of persuasive techniques.  The poem was very satirical and used death very jokingly.  In my own opinion, the author was very against war and used a rhetorical situation to explain his thoughts.  This rhetorical situation was the fact that the poem's title was "AD" and even though it was built in the same structure as an ad for war, it was very negative and against war in its stanzas.  This rhetorical title was more of an ad against going into the war, rather than support for joining the army.  The first line "WANTED: Men" shows the purpose of the ad.  Throughout the poem, words are capitalized such as WANTED AT ONCE, YOU ARE THE VERY MAN WE WANT, TAKE A PERMANENT JOB IN THE COMING PROFESSION, and DEATH.  He uses excited words like 'NEW, TREMENDOUS, THRILLING, GREAT' to use sarcasm to be excited about joining the army where "No skill needed; No ambition required; no brains wanted and no character allowed" (lines 11-12).  This line uses satire since the author's purpose is to rhetorically show the nonperks of joining the army while giving an ad of the army.  His purpose is to create humor in such a serious topic as death and war. In lines three and four, the author uses repetition in the beginning of each sentence to get readers to focus on the words he is saying here. The author is trying to show people how the war is a scare place and how they want men who don't have any heart or soul.  Line 9 is the most confusing sentence in the entire poem.  It says "WANTED: A race of brand-new men" which could possibly show how the army wants a brand of men who are not physically realistic.   In line 12, it states that the army favors "no brains wanted and no character allowed" showing how the army is such a serious topic in the eyes of recruits, yet how they have no perks to joining the army besides being a place to kill. The last line states "Wages: DEATH" which is exactly how the author feels about war.  It is a place of death and soulless soldiers with no personality, character, or brains.  He is obviously against the army and war, and wants world peace.