Themes
Glorification & disillusionment of War
- Enthusiastic, believed that fighting would earn love, admiration and respect
- Had no real concept of consequences, only thought of the glory of being a
military man
- Society: allowed the man to enlist despite being aware that he was underage
Structure
- Temporal shifts → contrast of how war changed his life
- Cyclical structure → sense of isolation throughout the poem
Symbols
- Darkness
Representing the loss of life itself
Waking hours spent “waiting for dark” → longing for sleep as an escape from
the painful stillness of daily life / anticipation of his own death
Poetic devices
- Alliteration
“Wheeled chair, waiting” → lost his independence, stillness
“Ghastly suit of grey” → frustration & unhappiness, lifeless, monotonous
“Smart salutes’’ → highlights romanticised idea about war, only thought about
how he would look as a soldier
- Repetition
“Why don’t they come’’ desperate sadness, loneliness
- Imagery
Simile “rang saddening like a hymn’’ religious, reminds him of childhood
Imagery in second stanza (hopeful past) contrasting dullness (present) of first
stanza
“Glow-lamps’’ “Light blue trees” vs “ghastly suit of grey”
Language
- Contrast (juxtaposition) of the soldier’s pre- and post-war life
“In the old times” before the war vs “Now”
→ shows his regrets, questions whether it was worth fighting in the war
“jewelled hilts” v “ghastly suit of grey”; “drafted out with drums and cheers’’ v
“not as crowds cheer goal’’
Form, metre, rhyme scheme
[ @twilightxcafee notes – Reserved for customers only ]
Glorification & disillusionment of War
- Enthusiastic, believed that fighting would earn love, admiration and respect
- Had no real concept of consequences, only thought of the glory of being a
military man
- Society: allowed the man to enlist despite being aware that he was underage
Structure
- Temporal shifts → contrast of how war changed his life
- Cyclical structure → sense of isolation throughout the poem
Symbols
- Darkness
Representing the loss of life itself
Waking hours spent “waiting for dark” → longing for sleep as an escape from
the painful stillness of daily life / anticipation of his own death
Poetic devices
- Alliteration
“Wheeled chair, waiting” → lost his independence, stillness
“Ghastly suit of grey” → frustration & unhappiness, lifeless, monotonous
“Smart salutes’’ → highlights romanticised idea about war, only thought about
how he would look as a soldier
- Repetition
“Why don’t they come’’ desperate sadness, loneliness
- Imagery
Simile “rang saddening like a hymn’’ religious, reminds him of childhood
Imagery in second stanza (hopeful past) contrasting dullness (present) of first
stanza
“Glow-lamps’’ “Light blue trees” vs “ghastly suit of grey”
Language
- Contrast (juxtaposition) of the soldier’s pre- and post-war life
“In the old times” before the war vs “Now”
→ shows his regrets, questions whether it was worth fighting in the war
“jewelled hilts” v “ghastly suit of grey”; “drafted out with drums and cheers’’ v
“not as crowds cheer goal’’
Form, metre, rhyme scheme
[ @twilightxcafee notes – Reserved for customers only ]
