Great Guns
The dead are awakened from their eternal slumber by the loud sounds and pulsations of powerful weaponry. The great guns symbolize the advanced modern warfare that surpasses the previous wars in scale and armaments. The dead acknowledge the power in modern weapons by terming them great but in a satirical manner. Though guns are powerful and state-of-the-art, they also cause more carnage to human civilization.
Trumpet
The poem makes allusions to biblical allegories to overstate the magnitude of modern warfare. The dead compare the thuds to the ends of times but God responds that the apocalypse will be much fiercer. On Judgment day, the sounds of trumpets will mark the occasion henceforth the trumpet symbolizes the might and power of God. Though man has conjured powerful inventions for violence, they cannot be likened to God’s supremacy.
Religious Hypocrisy
In the third stanza, God is introduced as the second speaker addressing the religious conviction of the leaders. He attests that though religion acts as a basis for humans in justifying their deeds they barely uphold its ideals. As such, God asserts that if indeed it was the apocalypse most will be judged to hell for their false convictions.
Pacifism
The poem entails antiwar views in addressing the cost of war on human civilization for eons. The dead admit that in their time wars run rampant akin to what they are observing in the present. Consequently, God affirms that man has always upped his ante with every conflict bringing more carnage into the world. Accordingly, wars will continue to become ‘redder’ unless humanity chooses to embrace pacifism.
Stars
The speakers mention well-known landmarks and sites where wars have been waged to showcase the perpetuity of human violence. The statement on the starlit Stonehenge creates an image that symbolizes the recurrence of human history. Stars represent entities that are perpetual therefore they symbolize the eternity of the human condition. As long as humans advance their technology, they will continue to wage wars with much more powerful ordnances.
