Ewart Alan Mackintosh
The hedge on the left, and the trench on the right,
And the whispering, rustling wood between,
And who knows where in the wood to-night
Death or capture may lurk unseen.
The open field and the figures lying
Under the shade of the apple trees —
Is it the wind in the branches sighing.
Or a German trying to stop a sneeze ?
Louder the voices of night come thronging,
But over them all the sound is clear.
Taking me back to the place of my longing
And the cultured sneezes I used to hear.
Lecture-time and my tutor’s ” handkerchief “
Stopping his period’s rounded close,
Like the frozen hand of the German ranker
Down in a ditch with a cold in his nose.
Fm cold, too, and a stealthy snuffle
From the man with a pistol covering me,
And the Bosche moving off with a snap and a shuffle
Break the windows of memory —
I can’t make sure till the moon gets lighter —
Anyway shooting is over bold.
Oh, damn you, get back to your trench, you blighter,
I really can’t shoot a man with a cold.
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Analysis (AI Assisted)
This poem uses a combination of dark humor and vivid imagery to explore the brutal, often absurd realities of war. Its main focus is on the human experience during the night in the trenches, offering an almost mundane take on a situation that is anything but ordinary. The title and opening lines set the scene with a simple, almost pastoral description of the battlefield: “The hedge on the left, and the trench on the right, / And the whispering, rustling wood between.” The calm tone of this image contrasts sharply with the later tension, capturing the ordinary distractions of nature that soldiers might focus on in moments of quiet.
The poem’s humor comes from its focus on the trivial and personal aspects of war, particularly in the line “Or a German trying to stop a sneeze?” The idea of a soldier’s life being shaped by something as seemingly insignificant as a sneeze is both comic and absurd in the context of war. It also humanizes the enemy, transforming the figure of the “German” from a faceless soldier into a character who is struggling with something as relatable as a cold. It speaks to the poem’s central theme: the confusion, the trivial, and the chaotic human elements that are often a part of war.
The poem takes a more reflective turn as it contrasts the dangers of the war zone with a memory of the speaker’s pre-war life. The mention of “the cultured sneezes I used to hear” and “lecture-time and my tutor’s ‘handkerchief’” connects the soldier’s current experience with a past that seems so far removed from the violence and hardship of the present. These references to civilian life highlight the absurdity of the soldier’s situation—he is caught between these two worlds, the “past” world of comfort and order, and the violent, unpredictable present. The war becomes something that invades even the smallest, most intimate moments, as evidenced by the absurd idea of sneezes interrupting a lecture, juxtaposed with the violence of gunfire and death.
The speaker’s discomfort with killing another man, even in the context of war, becomes a central conflict as the poem progresses. The line, “Anyway shooting is over bold,” followed by the humorous complaint, “Oh, damn you, get back to your trench, you blighter,” shows the soldier’s reluctance to act, even in a life-and-death situation. There is a tension between the professional soldier who has been trained to fight and kill, and the human being who is simply tired, cold, and confused by the experience. The humor, again, emerges here, as the speaker cannot bring himself to shoot a man who is suffering from a cold, reflecting a deep internal conflict between duty and personal morality.
The poem’s blend of absurdity and darker reflection captures the often surreal nature of war, where moments of humor can exist side by side with fear and violence. The playful tone of some lines contrasts sharply with the harshness of the context, making the reader confront the absurdities of war while also recognizing the emotional and psychological toll it takes on those who experience it. It’s a look at the dissonance soldiers often face—caught between the familiar and the horrifying, the absurd and the tragic.