First off, the speaker is, well… dead. The "gunner" from the title is actually the speaker. Through the use of birth imagery and figurative language, the poem takes us along on the gunner's last flight and down to an ending that most readers don't soon forget. Spoiler alert: The gunner dies, and in a way that's not for the faint of heart. Don't read it right before lunch—unless you're dieting, in which case you should read it before every meal.
