Battle cries can either be a cry of happiness and victory or also a cry of bitterness and sadness.  When comparing Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic and Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA, the listener is able to better understand and interpret the songs as a whole.  Both Howe and Springsteen sing about war in different times and aspects. Howe sings about the victorious side of war; while Springsteen talks about the hardship of getting the shit beat out of a person but you come out stronger from it. 

In Battle Hymn of the Republic, Howe shows patriotism in the aspect of a victory during the Civil War.  There are many biblical references along with many references to the Lord and God in general.  It starts off with: "Mine eyes have seen the glory/ Of the coming of the Lord" (Battle).  This shows how the soldier are rejoicing and giving all the glory to God after a victory.  Their patriotism shines through them as well as through what they believe in after they come out of battle.  Although they are suffering from the loss of friends and family fighting along side of them, they are also happy that their country/state has been victorious as they lift all praise up to God.  When Howe sings, "He has sounded form the trumpet/ That shall never call retreat/ He is sifting out the hearts of men/ Before His judgment-seat," she is showing again that the men and women in battle are giving everything to God (Battle).  The "trumpets" of the victory song are songs of praise for the state and for God.  They won't retreat because they have God on their side and they fear nothing.  God is examining the hearts and will-power of the men, while they show their patriotism.  The men who have fallen are being judged before God while he sits in heaven on his throne.  Howe shows how men in victory are very patriotic and fighting for what they believe and strive for.

Howe may sing about the patriotism that comes in victory but Springsteen talks about the patriotism in loss during the Vietnam.  He starts off in the first stanza singing about "You end up like a dog that's been beat too much/ Till you spend half your life just covering up" (Born).  After the Vietnam war, the soldier came back to an America that did not except them to well.  They were over in Vietnam, fighting for the United States of America, and they come back to their home country and get screamed and yelled at by their fellow citizens.  These men come back to their own country and have to cover up and be ashamed of defending it because the people didn't agree with what they did.  The men who fought said no and stood up for their patriotism and were proud of what they did.  They were all not necessarily proud of what they did but they were proud to fight for the country that they all so loved.  Their patriotism shines through their determination to show Americans that what they did was good and worth the cause.  The men "Got in a little hometown jam so they put a rifle in my hand/ Sent me off to a foreign land to go and kill the yellow man" (Born).  Some of these men were chosen from their hometowns and put in these groups and forced to fight.  These men were taken out of there daily lives and knew exactly what they were fighting for.  Sent to these foreign lands and somewhat forced to be patriots.  Bruce Springsteen talks about two kinds of patriots in his song, ones who wanted to be patriots and those who were forced to be. 

Howe talks about a much more joyful time while coming out of the war.  There are talks about happiness, God, and being cheerful for everything that they were blessed with.  They fight with thoughts of God and "His terrible swift sword/ His truth is marching on" (Battle).  Knowing that their God is behind them, they fight with pride and happiness.  The song they sing is all to glorify him and praise him for all that he did for them.  "Let the hero, born of woman/ Crush the serpent with his heel/ Since God is marching on," is sung to show the faith the soldiers had in God to protect them (Battle).  It talks about the Christian religion and how a baby named Jesus was born to a woman.  This verse in the song is from Genesis 3:15 which states: "he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel" (Bible).  This shows that the soldiers were not scared of anything because they had a powerful God behind them who would take care of them.  All they had to worry about was fighting for their families and keeping them safe. 

Springsteen on the other hand sings about a much sadder and depressing things.  He shows that even though these men are patriots, no one respects them or wants them back.  These men had "nowhere to run / ain't got nowhere to go" (Born).  After leaving the country to go fight, the men didn't know where to go or what to do with themselves.  Some of their families wouldn't even take them back.  These men were living on the streets looking for jobs.  The song plays: "Born in the U.S.A./ Come back home to the refinery/ Hiring man says 'son if it was up to me'/ Went down to see my V.A. man/ He said 'son don't you understand now'" (Born).  These men were coming home from war and couldn't find jobs because they were hated by the people around them.  No companies would hire soldiers or show any respect to them because they thought that what they had done was the wrong way of doing things.  Springsteen says that they were born in the USA and they are just like everyone around them.  They need respect after fighting for their country.  These men hated their country and didn't want to be patriots because of the bad name that came along with it. 

The images that are projected in Howe's poem are images of glory and valor.  It's the kind of patriotism that everyone pictures when someone says the word.  Howe demonstrates this glory by singing: "With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me:/ As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, / While God is marching on" (Battle).  Since these men had won their battle and were singing a joyful battle cry, they glorified the God who helped them win.  Their God's glory transfigures/ transforms them, and makes them proud to be patriots for their country.  According to the Christian religion, God became a human, Jesus, and died on a cross for the sins of all the people living at this time along with all the people to come.  When the song says "make men holy, let us die to make men free," it means that since Jesus died on the cross to set these men free (Battle).  The fallen soldiers will live in heaven along side God and be free with Him.  God keeps marching on strong while the men are falling because he is their stronghold and they look up to him for help and protection. 

On the other hand, the images portrayed in Springsteen's song are of those of sorrow and disappointment, not only in the soldiers but the community around them once they have returned.  It alludes to a fallen soldier and friend/ family of a man being talked about in this song.  The song goes, "They're still there he's all gone/ He had a woman he loved in Saigon/ I got a picture of him in her arms now" (Born).  This pictures it presents is a man who had lost his brother.  The brother found a woman in Vietnam that he fell in love with and didn't want to leave.  The brother staying was not a good idea because he ended up dying with his beloved holding him in a picture that was sent back home to this man being talked about in the song.  Springsteen depicts images that bring sadness and sorrow to the listener.  It shows that the patriotism talked about in this war is significantly different than the patriotism talked about in Howe's song. 

There is a great difference in the patriotism talked about in the two songs because one is a song of praises and one is a song of difficulty and struggle adapting to the new world that they have come back to.  The listener can see in the choruses that there is a difference in the two songs as well.  In Howe's song, it sings, "Glory, glory, hallelujah. / Glory, glory, hallelujah. / Glory, glory, hallelujah. / Our God is marching on"(Battle).  The soldiers are praising the God who got them through this battle.  They are rejoicing that they have won and can now go back to their normal daily living that they had before.  Since these soldiers are in God, they keep marching on along with him.  They have God on their side and to them nothing can or will stop them.  These patriots fought for what was right and rejoice in God after every victory. 

Springsteen sings his chorus in a sort of angry fashion.  In his song he yells: Born in the U.S.A./ I was born in the U.S.A./ I was born in the U.S.A./ I was born in the U.S.A./ Born in the U.S.A." (Born). Springsteen sings this in a passionate way.  He is showing the people that these men are American citizens just like them, that they are born in the U.S.A., that he was born in the U.S.A., and he respects them so much that he even wrote a song about them.  He later sings, "I'm a cool rocking daddy in the U.S.A." which shows that he is a father and these men that fought in Vietnam kept him a father (Born).  Without soldiers fighting over in these foreign lands, whether win or lose, they are sill protecting their citizen's livelihood as they know it.  Without these soldiers fighting for them, they would live very different lifestyle.  The soldiers struggle making it back to America because of the hate of its people and all the different changes that had happen in the ten years that many of them were over there for. 

Theses songs relate very well with one another.  Both talk about the feelings that come after war.  Although one is a victory song and one is a loss and sorrow song, they both demonstrate they reactions of the soldiers once they had finish their battles or wars.  Springsteen depicts a more sorrowful and tough loving song, while Howe is a praise song to the God that she believed in.  Battle cries can either be one of happiness and victory or one of sadness and loss, but both have good images of patriotism. 

