“Into Battle” by Julian Grenfell presents an introduction with an optimistic fervor illustrated by the quotation “Life is Color and Warmth and Light”. This quotation in turn contrasts with the bleak statement “And he is dead who will not fight”. The speaker speculates of the happenings after the soldier's demise and provides the reader with a fairly optimistic image including metaphors such as accompanying the Dog-Star constellation, speaking with the wind and listening to the owl's call at night.
“Orion's Belt and sworded hip” is a reference to constellations and draws a link towards the soldier. Descriptions of the soldier's' resting place include “woodlands that stand together” and “kestrel hovering by the day” provide the reader with a generally positive view of peace and tranquility. The blackbirds' song can be viewed as tender and reassuring. The speaker encourages war in this respect as there is no mention of negative consequences of war but has more emphasis on the essence of life and glorifies the soldier through the mention of a resting place after death.
Compared to typical mentions of bodies lying unburied or being ripped apart by shrapnels in war, the speaker suggests of a quiet resting place that the soldier can look forward to. The mention of horses stresses the romantic ideals of early poets like Grenfell and the reliance on cavalry. It is also noticeable that there is no mention of gunpowder. The second passage from the 35th line is directed towards the excitement of battle, and this is demonstrated by “And only the Joy of Battle takes him by the throat.”
The use of “neither lead nor steel” indicates that the soldier's death shall not be at gunpoint or because of the sword. There is more of an inclination to the slow embracing of death as seen by “in the air Death moans and sings.” The quotation “And Night shall fold him in soft wings” presents a gentler version of death which can be perceived to be almost welcome.
The speaker of Wilfred Owen's “Spring Offensive” introduces a more pessimistic view of death and warfare in general. The introductory line indicates of a break with “they” meaning the soldiers and that they had “halted against the shade of a last hill.” The lack of discipline for some soldiers is highlighted as they “carelessly slept,” but the mention of other soldiers on the alert gives an indication of danger.
The “careless sleeping” of some soldiers might also be an indication of the soldiers' indifference in death. Instead of a frontier of defense or action, the gloominess can be sensed since the battlefield is regarded as “the end of the world.” Like the first poem, there is also mention of outside creatures like wasps and midges. Similarly, there is also mention of trees in this poem, but in this context they are used to describe the insects' breathing rather than a resting place.
The mention of the insects also bring a gloomier quality to the poem as they portray a better life than a soldier's. The quotation “And tighten them for battle” gives the reader proof to realize that the insect is actually a metaphor of soldiers. The “whole sky burned” is an indication of the sky being full of bombs from fighter planes.
The use of “soft sudden cups opened in thousands for blood” refers of craters appearing due to bombings and its devastation. Death has a gloomier perspective and is illustrated by the mention of hell instead of a peaceful end. In the final stanza “why they speak not of comrades” portrays essentially the forgetting of fallen soldiers in war by the community and the later generations.
