The Death of a Soldier

Autumn is the most important symbol throughout “The Death of a Soldier.” It is mentioned twice in the poem, creating a refrain. It appears in the first stanza, “As in a season of autumn” (Line 2), and then in the third stanza, “As in a season of autumn” (Line 8). Both of these lines are identical with the exception of punctuation. The repetition of the line mirrors the cyclicality of the seasons. Autumn comes every year without fail and the speaker makes an explicit comparison between fall and the soldier’s death. In addition to the cycle of the seasons, fall is the period just before winter when flora and fauna prepare for hibernation. Fall represents a time of death and decay, making it an apt metaphor for the season of warfare. The speaker specifically talks about wind in autumn, creating an image of leaves swept up into the air by the breeze before falling to the earth: “As in a season of autumn / When the wind stops” (Lines 8-9). Death makes the world still for only a moment—but no one notices, and the cycle continues.