Channel Firing

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1914

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Hopelessness, Helplessness, and Futility

While the poem seems to be singularly focused on warfare, Hardy utilizes the idea of war to demonstrate the feelings of helplessness many people were experiencing during this time. Much like the dead, the average citizens of the countries involved in the war could do nothing to stop it. The dead and the living alike are bystanders in this conflict between nation-states, and they will also be the victims that will suffer the consequences: sons and fathers must fight as soldiers, homes, towns, and lives will be destroyed. And yet, those countries are still manufacturing newer and deadlier technology to make “Red war yet redder” (Line 14).

God himself discusses how he feels helpless to quell the situation, and how the living are “mad as hatters” (Line 14). The exasperation and frustration felt by God further reinforces the futility of the situation for both the dead and the living. If God can’t help, where else can humanity turn? But God’s sarcastic laugh, “Ha, ha. It will be warmer when / I blow the trumpet” (Lines 21-22), leaves little in the way of hope. God’s sarcasm and the promise of it being even “warmer” when the world ends provide the reader with no comfort and the glaring reality that help will not be coming.

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God’s purposeful procrastination in blowing the trumpet to signal Judgment Day “if indeed / I ever do” (Lines 22-23) also works to create this sense of hopelessness. It sends a clear message that peace on earth even after war and death is far from reach. If the end of the world is not promised, this leaves humanity on a path of destruction without the reassurance that it will ever end. The war is a kind of bloody destiny, and there is no way to avoid the coming violence—humanity’s fate is sealed.

Humanity’s Lack of Progress

Much of Hardy’s poetry addresses history, and “Channel Firing” is no exception. Demonstrating Hardy’s knowledge of the past as well as his familiarity with historical warfare, the poem grapples with the progress—or lack thereof—of humanity over the course of time. The dead themselves serve as relics of the past, and expand the poem’s sense of time and space to a much larger scale. Because the dead transcend death, animated skeletons that converse and are conscious long after their supposed deaths, they also transcend time. These humans from the past have woken up to pass judgment on the living and hold them accountable to their ancestors as well as to God. The dead function within the poem as a reminder of the living’s obligation to the dead to make the world a better place.

However, there is no evidence that the world has been made better, according to God: “Just as before you went below; The world is as it used to be” (Lines 11-12). The idea that the world has not improved since the dead were buried is surprising, especially considering the technological advancement of the period that worked to make life easier and more convenient than at any point in history. Hardy therefore challenges the notion that modernity and technology have made people’s lives better, especially considering the brutal warfare that comes as a result of this kind of progress. The poem maintains a strong ideological opposition to any kind of progress or advancement that results in deadlier, more violent warfare or conflict.

The Role of Christianity

The Christian religion plays a very large role throughout the poem and works to establish a moral center, as well as a way of making sense of the world. The poem is set in a church, the dead are buried nearby, and it is the window above the church’s altar that breaks upon the firing of the guns. This sets up a duality between Christianity and warfare, presenting war and violence as antithetical to Christian beliefs and principles: “They do no more for Christés sake / Than you who are helpless in such matters” (Lines 15-16). One of the pivotal dilemmas of the poem is the question about Judgment Day, a key element of Christian theological belief. Christianity’s emphasis on judgment and justice tries holding someone accountable for the deadly wars, even if that justice is not served until after death. But the poem questions if that justice will ever be served and presents a much bleaker possibility.

The poem makes a few references to the Book of Revelations and its description of the apocalypse, specifically with its description of “Red war yet redder” (Line 14) and “I blow the trumpet indeed” (Line 22). These are allusions to the ushers and harbingers of the end of the world. The coloring of one of the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse is red, as well as the trumpet, which is a reference to the Seven Trumpets of the apocalypse as described in the New Testament. This side-by-side comparison positions the leaders of these nations that are participating in this bloody business as ushers themselves, although this end will not be the work of God. But God’s laughter at the thought of the apocalypse, and mankind’s suffering along with God's skepticism and hesitation concerning whether he will ever blow the trumpet, leave believers facing an even more terrifying reality, one where God has given up on them or lacks any real power at all: “Ha ha. It will be warmer when / I blow the trumpet (if indeed / I ever do” (Lines 21-23). God’s satirical and rather human behavior throughout the poem highlights the narrator’s complex relationship with God and religion, and works to push the reader to posit the existence of a God at all.