Narrated by the dead, “Channel Firing” grapples with a sense of pointlessness concerning war and mankind’s desire to destroy itself. More specifically, however, the poem takes a nihilistic view on societal progress, and the cynical possibility that even after many centuries, society may not have improved at all.

Essentially a noise complaint from the dead to the living, the poem opens with an accusatory tone that creates a stark separation between the two and sets the tone for satire. The dead say specifically, “your great guns, unawares” (Line 1), assigning ownership of the guns and responsibility for the noise to all living people. This immediate blame highlights the helplessness of the dead in this situation. It also reminds readers that war is the business of the living. This is an ironic idea considering how much death is the result of war. The living are so busy with war, they don’t even notice that they have woken the dead.

The poem opens its first two stanzas with a barrage of powerful action-oriented verbs like “shook” (Line 2), “broke” (Line 3), “howl” (Line 6), and “fall” (Line 7). These high-intensity words convey the chaos of the guns, using the language to mirror the violence that is taking place outside.