The conflicts of war are not only fought on the battlefield but are inscribed on paper to instill an illusion of war. Following are two authors Samuel L. Clemens, known as Mark Twain, and Stephen Crane's independent writings concerning war. Mark Twain's "The War Prayer", and Stephen Crane's "Fast Rode The Knight", expresses their view of honor and valor, and how to describe death, along with defeat and terror in the minds of the reader.
             In the "The War Prayer" Mark Twain illustrates lines of soldiers facing the enemy, and speeding toward their opposition. His images portray feelings of haste, fear, and capture the excitement of combat. The reader sees the soldiers in the very moment that there family and friends envisioned for them earlier in the passage.
             Similar to Twain, Crane grabs hold of the mixed emotions of excitement and fear involved in war. In his poem "Fast Rode The Knight" Crane depicts a knight in the different stages of war. The excitement and anticipation is captured as he illustrates the knight riding into war, and a sense of relief is shown as the knight survived the experience. Thus, capturing the courage involved in being a knight.
             Authors use figurative language as a means to gain impact, freshness of expression, or to give a pictorial effect. In "The War Prayer" there is symbolism in Mark Twain's illustration of the stranger. The stranger is portrayed as a Christ like figure who has "come from the Throne – bearing a message from Almighty God!" He has come to try to change the viewpoints of the people, and impose his beliefs on them, but his efforts fail.
             Crane and Twain both create characters that are capable of being understood in two or more possible ways. Crane uses the horse in "Fast Rode The Knight" to represent all the knight has left behind in going to war. In doing so, he captures
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