Explication of Published Poem 5

The poem was written during the Boer War. The poems describes at first that if a soldier and his enemy had met at an inn or bar they could've been friends and even shared a drink. Stanza 2 refers to the same soldier and his enemy firing at each other and the soldier manages to kill the enemy. The soldier falters and questions his actions if his enemy would've been forced to kill him too. Then the soldier wonders if the enemy he killed joined the army for the same reason, which is because he was unemployed and had no money. The last stanza states that war is interesting because the man you kill could've been your friend at a different time. This poem interacts with the reader in the sense that it makes the reader acknowledge the message of the poet. Instead of saying that war is ugly or good, the poem simply states that war is curious. There's not a whole lot of poetic devices besides the rhyme scheme.