The Soldier
Dazed and sleep-deprived, the soldier in the poem makes his way through a dark underground tunnel. He is part of the rear guard: the soldiers who protect the back part of an army. This soldier is anxious to return to the battle being waged overhead, which (despite its own implied violence) is preferable to the isolation and disorientation in the tunnel.
The Sleeping Figure (Corpse)
When the soldier comes across a sleeping figure, he takes out his bitter frustration on the man by kicking him. The light from the soldier's torch reveals that the man is not in in fact sleeping, but dead. His body is evidence of recent violence, perhaps a battle that was fought in the tunnels. His glaring eyes wear the agony of a hard death ten days before, and fists of fingers clutch a blackening wound. These descriptions reveal the dehumanization that occurs during war.
