The Speaker
Seven of the poem’s eight stanzas all begin with the same five words: “I am not yet born.” Only the final stanza comprised of a single couplet departs from this pattern. The poem therefore makes it clear from its outset that the speaker is an unborn entity commenting on the state of the world in the present. The poem does not attempt to portray the speaker as an actual child; instead, the poem uses the speaker's "unborn" status to remark on what awaits the speaker once they are born – that is, the speaker serves as a vessel through which the poem offers commentary on the bleak state of society during World War II, when the poem was published.
This distinction is significant because it reminds readers that the focus of the poem, though told from the perspective of an unborn character, is on those currently living through fraught, bleak, and uncertain times. That the speaker is characterized so thoroughly as "unborn" encourages readers to think about what present circumstances could mean for future generations and posterity. Given the chaotic state of the world in 1944 and the tragedies people were witnessing on a daily basis, the speaker argues that to be born into the world at present is a fate worse than death.
