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.