“The Dead” is a somber meditation on human loss. It is both reverent and mournful, celebrating the richness of life while echoing the utter emptiness felt in the wake of tragedy.

In contrast with the bold eulogizing tone of “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, “The Dead” concerns itself not with the honor of battle but rather with the emotional cost of war; the speaker focuses attention on the individuals lost in conflict, whose lives held meaning beyond the context of war and whose legacy is defined by sorrow rather than glory. Allusions to nature reinforce the ephemeral loveliness of life, the complexity and subtlety of which is broken by the jarring pivotal phrase “All this is ended now”. The final lines describe lively waters brought to stillness by frost, mirroring the quiet, sobering impact of war on both its victims and survivors.

This poem had a profound effect on me. I found myself unprepared for the mention of “a width, a shining peace, under the night” which drew the poem to a close by attaching gentle, natural imagery to the ending of life. While undeniably mournful, “The Dead” also conveys a sense of serenity in death, a bittersweet concept that lingers in the mind, deeply humbling and vaguely haunting.