In the poem "This is the dark time, my love" by Martin Carter, why do you think the poet uses soldiers and guns in association with nature?

Interpretation of the poem will differ with individual
readings and, therefore, understand that this is my own personal interpretation and
answer to your question.

In the poem "This is a dark time,
my love", Carter shows the power that artificial elements have over those which are
natural. (Artificial elements are guns and soldiers- soldiers because they are made into
soldiers by man.)

A specific line in the poem that supports
that man is seen as superior to nature is:

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Whose boot of steel tramps down the slender
grass

The narrator is warning
his love that this is a time of war. During war, nothing weak is able to survive. The
sun must hide itself and the red flower (or rose), a symbol of love, must bend its head
(personified to show that the rose, which depicts love, cannot exist). The narrator is
also warning his love that even her dreams are not safe from the weapons of
man:

It is the
man of death, my love, the stranger invader
Watching you sleep and aiming at
your dream.

Here, one could
interpret that the lines again personifies death as having a human body which can invade
ones life and kill their dreams. While death does kill ones dreams, one cannot dream
when dead, it is much more significant when taken in the context that dreams are natural
and can be killed by man.