What is an analysis of The Conscript by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson?

Answer 1

The Conscript, by Wilfrid WIlson Gibson, is a poem on the surface about men who have been drafted (conscripted), and who are being examined by doctors to see if they are healthy enough to, essentially, die for their country. The title itself tells us that these men are not volunteers. They do not want to be here. The doctors do not care what the future has in store for these people... they just do their jobs, and send each man off to whatever fate awaits, whether it is death, or living death, or life. The narrator is the only one who considers the fate of each young man who approaches, and as he observes each being sent off to his fate, he notices that Christ himself is one of those men, waiting to be examined, suffering... and waiting for the doom that the doctors have for him, as they still do not notice.

I think that the poem is a condemnation of war, and of a society where people have forgotten to care about each other. It is a plea to each reader to notice what is going on with other people... or the very most important things, and people, will pass us by and we won't even realize.