He honors the sixteen million "killers" absolving them of their guilt when they "beat on my head." Sandburg utilizes several poetic devices to deliver the main theme of the poem. For instance, he uses repetition saying "killing...and killing." Similarly, the third stanza also uses repetition, for Sandburg starts each line with the word "And." The word "always" is also repeated in the last line of the fifth and the first line of the sixth stanzas. The poet also uses first person to underscore his emotional engagement and commitment to the soldiers' souls. He starts the poem with the first person pronoun "I" and later states, "I never forget them day or night." The narrator also states, "I cry back to them." The narrator also notes affection for their "homes and women, dreams and games." Finally, one word in "Killers" proves that Sandburg wrote the poem in honor of World War One soldiers: "trenches." The narrator states, "I wake in the night and smell the trenches."

The narrator does not focus on himself, however. "Killers" is not a narcissistic poem. Instead, the narrator allows the soldiers to speak and act for themselves: "They beat on my head for memory of them, / They pound on my heart and I cry back to them." Diction becomes one of the most powerful poetic devices in "Killers." Words like "beat" and "pound" parallel the brutal theme of war.

However, Sandburg...

One of the most poignant images of "Killers" is how the soldier's "red juice runs." Comparing blood to juice is a cannibalistic symbol, suggesting that war is nothing but self-hatred: a dog-eat-dog world. More subtle imagery in the poem includes the narrator's noticing the "smell" of the trenches, which is surely the smell of death given the narrator's referring to "Some of them long sleepers for always." Sandburg cleverly contrasts this imagery of death with the morbid imagery of a "dead child." Juxtaposing life with death, Sandburg stresses how severe wars are and how deeply they affect human life.
Unlike many war-themed poems, "Killers" does not glorify combat or the motives behind fighting. Sandburg comes across like a pacifist in "Killers," noting "the drag of the world's heartbreak" the pulls young virile men away from their home and family. The imagery of slavery and imprisonment used in the first stanza continues to characterize war as a futile effort, initiated by men in positions of power with little concern for the well-being of their fellow citizens. As a socialist, Sandburg likely cultivated some disdain for the rich and powerful people who pull the puppet-strings of war. The poet also alludes to the "long job" of killing: the insufferable hours, days, and years of endless combat.