bayonet charge

• 1. poem presents futility of sacrifice
• 2. uncertainty presented

  • "suddenly" -> "raw" -> "bewilderment"
  • suggestion of men being used in war - unknowing of what they are doing
• 3. loss of faith and futility of sacrifice

  • "patriotic tear that brimmed in his eye"
  • "cold clockwork" "was he the hand pointing" - lived to see WW2
  • volta - "jumped up in dark and runs"
  • "dropped like luxuries" - stripped to basics
  • suffering of hare - parallel of soldier and struggling animal