this poem is about human destruction through the ages.

first stanza is jesus's crusifiction, 2nd is

with the whole thing about knights on horses with them rod things, 3rd is world war one, 4th world
war 2 and last, about through it all, man is itself, its greatest threat. -man made these weapons of
destruction, becoming morally and spiritually corrupt etc. -science for destruction or development?
(cures to sickness etc)

Clearly Brock is referring to the death of Christ. There are many religious connotations
such as 'make him carry a plank of wood and nail him to it.' Brock shows no emotion
throughout so that he can create a dull feel toward humanity. The poem suggests that
today's society is cares nothing for the value of life itself; thus Brock shows no emotion
to promote the idea. The final stanza once again refers to the lack of care for life stating
that placing someone 'somewhere in the middle of the twentieth century' is a 'Simpler,
direct and much more neat' way to kill a man. Brock shows just how inhumane society is
and has been since the death of Christ while also displaying how heartless and horrifying
today's worl has become.

this poem has a sarcastic tone to it. The poet shows no emotions or opinions in this poem,
and that sort of means that the poet think when people kill each other, they cannot gain
anything from it. so this poem shows the continuity and the meaningless of wars and
killing. Also, it shows the desire in human to kill progresses as the first method only kills
one Man, the second a bit more, and the last two World Wars had millions of casualties.
The poet is pointing out that with the technical advance comes more weapons, and with
more weapons comes easier ways of killing people, and at last human are going to kill
themselves.

The key to understanding this poem is to look at the setting of each

stanza. From there, the rest follows

From the perspective of major historical eras the poet shows the
perfecting of the arts of warfare and the withdrawal of human contact
in killing of human beings, physically. The keyword, cumbersome, is
almost forgotten as the killing becomes technologically easier and
imoersonal. But the last way is the most perfect and deadly because it
is the the spirit that is attacked. The words "...and leave him there"
means certain death in our age, which has embraced self, instant and
constant pleasure, and greed.

Alludes to events in history in chronological order

think it is a good poem that uses the ultimate sacrafice (biblicaly) then they main parts
that men died from in order of happening starting with the middle ages then ww1 then
ww2 and lastly the time era that incorparated both ww1 and ww2.

final stanza In that stanza, Edwin is inferring to the reader that the middle of the twentieth
century (1900's) was certainly the worst place in history to live. World War II ocurred
then and lasted for over a decade.
It is in the form of a ballad, meaning it tells a story and I truely think that is the most
appropriete way to set this poem out

the ending was the best part in my point of view. it is about one's
spirit dying and that, to me is worth than any physical death.

It refers to our own personal inhumanity rather than our social

inhumanity - of all the weapons and technological advances that are
utilised as instruments of destruction, man itself remains mankinds'
greatest threat.

Recipe method

Edwin Brock (1927-1997) wrote two of the best-known poems of the last century, 'Five Ways to Kill
a Man' and 'Song of the Battery Hen', but his work deserves wider recognition beyond these
anthology favourites. Born in South London in 1927, Brock grew up in a turbulent working class
family with no literary aspirations. He won a scholarship to a local grammar school but his formal
education ended after he gained his School Certificate. Brock's interest in poetry was inspired by a
paperback anthology of modern verse which he picked up idly as a bored 18-year old, waiting to be
de-mobbed from the Royal Navy at the end of the Second World War. This chance encounter in
Hong Kong was to prove revelatory and from then on Brock, completely self-taught, began to write
his own poems. Gradually he started to be published, firstly in the smaller magazines and
eventually in the Times Literary Supplement. During this period, Brock served as a police officer in
the Metropolitan force, the unusual combination of policeman and poet giving rise to a brief period
of fame when a tabloid journalist published an interview with Brock under the banner headline:
"THE THINGS HE THINKS UP AS HE POUNDS THE PECKHAM BEAT". Brock was embarrassed by the
sudden attention, but he continued to pursue his writing with serious intent. His efforts bore fruit
when his first collection was accepted by the small but prestigious Scorpion Press in 1959. Its title,
An Attempt at Exorcism, touches on the essentially personal nature of Brock's work, the frankness
of which connects him to the Confessional Movement which at that time was in the ascendancy in
the United States. Indeed, Brock is one of the few British poets of this period to be known in
America, with New Directions publishing several of his collections. 1959 was also the year of Brock's
first marriage, to Patricia Weller, with whom he had a son and daughter. The marriage proved to be
an unhappy one and was dissolved in 1964. The traumatic experience of marital conflict and divorce
permeated his poetry at the time, for instance in the bitter and powerful 'An Arrangement for
Seeing Children'. Brock by now had left the police to become an advertising copywriter, a profession
which he claimed to despise, but in which he became very successful. Brock resented the way work
distracted him from his real creative life in poetry, but he continued to write alongside his career,
publishing over a dozen collections and becoming increasingly prolific toward the end of his life. He
was also editor of the poetry magazine, Ambit, for almost four decades. In 1966 his status was
recognised by his inclusion in the influential Penguin Modern Poets series together with Geoffrey Hill
and Stevie Smith. He died in 1997 following a contented retirement alongside his second wife,
Elizabeth Skilton, with whom he had shared thirty happy years.

Brock's two Archive poems amply demonstrate the virtues of his "intensely felt, supple, direct and
memorable work" (Anthony Thwaite). 'Five Ways to Kill a Man' is chilling in its deliberately
emotionless tone as it uses the language of a practical manual to explore humanity's cruelty.
Progress is reduced to the way in which mankind has "improved" its methods of killing. Inspired by
a performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem and written quickly, the poem has an air of
authority which Brock's reading emphasises. 'Song of the Battery Hen' is similarly suited to being
spoken aloud. Though written as a dramatic monologue, in his introduction Brock makes it clear the
poem has autobiographical resonance. As such it is a good example of his belief that "most activity
is an attempt to define oneself in one way or another: for me poetry, and only poetry, has provided
this self-defining act."

Edwin Brock (born October 19, 1927 in Dulwich, Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell,
London; died in 1997) was a British poet. Following two years that he spent in the Royal
Navy shortly after the end of the Second World War he wrote Five Ways to Kill a Man,
an emotionless poem highlighting stupid deaths, the harshness of war and the increasing
loss of humanity, as shown in the distance between the killer and the victim (needing to
touch him in the first stanza, and not needing to know who he is in stanzas 4-5)