Blithely they go as to a wedding day
-- Speaker (Line 3)

Importance: This line, delivered early in the poem, creates a sense of tragedy in the joyous scene. The image of a wedding suggests a celebration of life and union, while battle is the antithesis of that: a rendering of life and a dissolution of union. The word “Blithely” also suggests a blindness to the reality of the days ahead.

Too careless-gay for courage, singing they go / Into the dark
-- Speaker (Lines 7-8)

Importance: This line stands out because courage is so often a trait associated with war. Contrary to bravery, which refers to acting with an absence of fear, “courage” refers to acting in spite of fear. The moment suggests that the men have not yet learned to be afraid, and so courage is not something they’ve stopped to think about.

Out of the mist they stepped-into the mist
-- Speaker (Line 15)

Importance: In this penultimate line, the poem takes...