Rosenberg, Isaac. "Louse Hunting".

Summary and Analysis

- a condensed series of stark yet forceful images of the blackly grotesque struggle of the man against the louse

- the 1^st stanza evokes the sound (the multiple curses and shouts of the soldier), the 2^nd the visual image as reflected in the wildly dancing shadows thrown by the candlelight on the wall

- at first one soldier is woken up by the louses, then all the others strip and join the raging battle of the supreme "gargantuan" against the "supreme littleness"

- the violence of the imagery evokes an actual clash of enemies in war; the attack of the louses at night ("When our ears were half lulled / By the dark music / Blown from Sleep's trumpet") may evoke attack from ambush