The narrator describes the plight of the foot soldiers during World War I. They march and they march, through mud, bent over double from carrying their heavy packs. All the men are exhausted and disheartened, but they have no choice but to march on. The speaker says that "Many had lost their boots, / But limped on, blood-shod" (lines 6-7). In other words, if a soldier lost his boots somehow, he would have no other...
The narrator describes the plight of the foot soldiers during World War I. They march and they march, through mud, bent over double from carrying their heavy packs. All the men are exhausted and disheartened, but they have no choice but to march on. The speaker says that "Many had lost their boots, / But limped on, blood-shod" (lines 6-7). In other words, if a soldier lost his boots somehow, he would have no other option but to continue on or be left behind to die. So, even soldiers without boots would continue to march, over battlefields and rocks, bloodying their feet. In fact, there might eventually be so much blood that it would actually appear that they were wearing shoes made of blood: thus they appeared to be blood shod. It is an incredibly jarring image that sounds terribly painful and indicates just how tortuous being a soldier in this war was.
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