The poem treats war as something people shout themselves into rather than something they choose. "Vive le Roi" passes from one "possessed servant" to the next, as if the king's own lips were speaking through them. The speakers aren't described as brave or cruel. They are "loyal, dutiful, faithful / and obedient ninepins," objects set up to be knocked down. The word "suffer" is sharp here: their only burden is obedience.
The speaker sounds tired and bitterly ironic. Calling every man a "clerk of the signet" suggests that everyone becomes a small official stamping the king's will, while having "no place to belong to." The last line is the coldest: the "minister and army" insist that "pain is a present," dressing up suffering as a gift. The title's pun, "Warp," hints at war bending and twisting language and people. The mood is chilly and mocking, with anger kept under tight control.