Can somebody explain this poem, it's called "the happy warrior" by herbert read?

Question

here's a link if you want to read it first.

http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/31119-Sir-Herbert-Read-The-Happy-Warrior

thanks in advance =]

Answer 1

Are you supposed to write an essay on this poem or something? o.0

Answer 2

He's man in pain, tired, and wants to

take his life.  He has the rifle.  It's

cold, feels it against his tongue.

He's stabbed, not by his

own hand.  

The man found happiness.

Answer 3

Nice poem.

Answer 4

It's a remorseless, disillusioned poem. The soldier (it is World War I) is grabbing a cold rifle (unpleasant), his jaws ache, his jacket is in tatters so it is not even a jacket, and he has no outlet for his feelings--cannot shriek. The only person he kills is already dead--a repellent act, about which a true soldier would feel ashamed. He does it again and again, in impotent frustration. Poem uses the denigratory word for a German, "Boche" showing that the soldier's feelings are just prejudices. The soldier is anything but "happy." The speaker of the poem doesn't even finish the poem--breaks off in an incomplete, unsatisfactory sentence, he's so bitter--why continue? Even art is destroyed.