Mortality
This poem deals with a young soldier who drifts into an opium-fueled hazy dream state as he slowly approaches his death. Though it is not explicitly stated, the notion of mortality salience (the awareness of the inevitability of death) is present in the poem. The beautiful descriptions of summer, water, and color are paired with the tragic horror of the soldier's premature death. The poet evokes the reader's presence by addressing the reader with the use of the second-person voice. As a result, the distant thudding guns at the end of the poem serve as a warning. It does not matter how beautiful or tranquil the reader's environment is. Anyone's life can be cut short due to war, and death is inevitable for everyone.
Criticizing the Military Establishment
The context of the poem (that the man is a young dying soldier) is not given until near the end of the poem. It is here that the poet urges the reader to take on the role of caregiver for the dying soldier, and asks a pointed question about how the soldier can die "When cruel old campaigners win safe through" (Line 38). This tone of this criticism is not as acerbic as in other works by Sassoon, but it clearly places the blame on the military officials whose orders lead to unnecessary and premature deaths.
Death and Sleep as a Journey
In the first stanza, the poet establishes the soldier's dips in and out of consciousness in connection with both falling asleep and moving closer to death. There is a general sense of internal and external movement (in regard to the soldier): the soldier drops through crimson gloom to darkness, dips his oars into the water surrounding him, shifts his body and shudders from pain, and goes with death when death chooses him. The scenery changes as the poem progresses, but keeps the fluid nature of water present.
The soldier's movement through this water may be described as an untethering, and is best compared to the hypnagogic state of losing consciousness as one falls asleep. During the normal transition into sleep, this state encompasses "an unfolding mindscape of curious sounds, abstract scenery, and tumbling thoughts" (Bell).
