They.       

       The Bishop tells us: 'When the boys come back

       'They will not be the same; for they'll have fought

       'In a just cause: they lead the last attack

       'On Anti-Christ; their comrades' blood has bought

       'New right to breed an honourable race,

       'They have challenged Death and dared him face to face.'

      'We're none of us the same!' the boys reply.

       'For George lost both his legs; and Bill's stone blind;

       'Poor Jim's shot through the lungs and like to die;

       'And Bert's gone syphilitic: you'll not find

       'A chap who's served that hasn't found some change.

       ' And the Bishop said: 'The ways of God are strange!'

The poem is written by Siegfried Sassoon. Considering the lay-out we realize the poem consists in two stanzas of 6 lines. The poem starts with the bishop’s words, who says that war changes people. There is a speaking voice. The word “boys” employs they’re young. In the sestet emerges the bishop idea about the soldiers.

The bishop speaks about the enemy. The enemy is personified in using a metaphorical use of the language. The speaking voice reporting the justification from the bishop. The Anglican church use their justification to fight in the war. The narrator uses parody, irony. He says something to mean exactly the opposite. The verb “Dying” is different from the word “Death”. Death seems an abstract word. He’s criticizing,  he apparently veiled a form of propaganda. He uses the direct speech, the exact word of the bishop.

The second sestet reminds you of the structure of the Petrarchean sonnet. The function of the sestet is to find a resolution. The soldier is not an ideal soldier, he has got an identity, a proper name: George, Bill etc.. In the sestet the speaking voice (a boy) agrees with the bishop and he refers to part of the soldiers’ body who has been wound.

The poem ends with the bishop’s sentence:”The ways of God are strange”. The bishop embodies the patriotism, he think that war proves soldiers’ bravery.