Poem analysis of "The Death of a Soldier" by Wallace Stevens

‘The Death of a Soldier’

Life contracts and death is expected,
As in a season of autumn.
The soldier falls.

He does not become a three-days’ personage,
Imposing his separation,
Calling for pomp.

Death is absolute and without memorial,
As in a season of autumn,
When the wind stops.

When the wind stops and, over the heavens,
The clouds go, nevertheless,
In their direction.

~Wallace Stevens

Wallace Stevens, in his poem, “Death of a Soldier”, compares death at war to autumn in order to reveal the unconditional and unavoidable nature at which war always results in death.  The poem opens with the line, “Life contracts and death is expected”. Though we try not to always think about it especially if it is our own loved ones at war, we know that someone will die on the battlefield. This creates a dreary description of war which isn’t place where soldiers prove their glory, but a graveyard of fallen men. Stevens metaphorically compares a soldier to the falling leave of a tree. Every autumn, we know that the leaves will fall off of the trees; it is an unavoidable process. Similarly, it is unavoidable for men to die at war. Also, each individual leaf is insignificant in relation to the whole tree as a whole just like each soldier is only pawn to the countries at war. Additionally, after the current leaves fall off the tree in the autumn, new leaves will begin to grow in the spring and replace the old ones; when men die in battle, the military replaces them with fresh soldiers. However despite that a soldier risks his life while he is fighting on the battlefield, he does not become a “personage”; as an individual he doesn’t have much significance to the war and thus he doesn’t gain any rank or distinction.  War is shown to be high risk but low reward. While a soldier commits to a very sacred duty and puts his life on the line, he will often be unrewarded for actions. Maybe being called ruthless or a killer by the very people he is defending. In fact his accomplishments do not warrant a “calling for pomp”, or a formal ceremony of dignity and importance which suggests that being a soldier isn’t something that others look up at. The first line of the third stanza, “Death is absolute and without memorial” suggests that a soldier is forgotten when he dies. He is but a speck in history in respect to all the other millions of soldiers who have died and will die in the future. Unlike some presidents or inventors who have something to leave behind so that they will be remembered in history even in death, a soldier has nothing to leave behind. Also, because death is “absolute”, there is no coming back to life when someone dies. Similar to “When the wind stops” in autumn, death is a natural occurrence and you will forget about a soldier’s life just like you would forget about the wind after it stops blowing. Wind may also be a metaphor for the breath of life.  The last stanza further drives home the idea that a soldier’s life is insignificant in the grand scheme of the war because even “When the wind stops” which represents the death of a soldier, “The clouds go” which represents that the war will go on and that individual soldier will be forgotten.