Told from the point of view of a soldier, the poem follows a single attack at the front. It begins with an eerie hush, then shells fall and the men spring from their straw beds to charge across the field. The speaker admits their violence is their only defence, and that grenades have stripped the honour from fighting. Mud, blood and dust cover them, and the air fills with the smell of sulphur and the taste of "death like rust."
When the noise suddenly stops, the speaker wishes the whole war would end as easily, but that hope is already spoiled: five hundred more are dead. The men carry on, calling themselves an "Iron Youth," and eat like hounds before sleeping.
The mood is tense, exhausted and numb. The speaker sounds hardened but not at peace. The closing image of a red sky, with the "silent spirit" falling again, suggests the cycle of fear and killing is about to start over. The poem's rhyme scheme, which links each stanza to the next, feels like the war's endless repetition.