Captain Sword and Captain Pen: A Poem

'Captain Sword and Captain Pen' is a poem by the poet Leigh Hunt. Hunt states that, “The object of this poem is to show the horrors of war, the false ideas of power produced in the minds of its leaders, and, by inference, the unfitness of those leaders for the government of the world.” In doing so Hunt looks back at some of the more recent conflicts in his day such as the American Revolution and the French Revolution, as well as touching on the role of famous military leaders such as Duke Wellington and Caesar.