What effect does the phrase “ sight” in stanza 2 have on the poem? it conveys the speaker's feeling of powerlessness. it captures how difficult it is for the speaker to see. it expresses the pain felt by the victim of the gas attack. here is the stanza  gas! gas! quick boys! —an ecstasy of fumbling, fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, but someone still was yelling out and stumbling and floundering like a man in fire or lime — dim through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, i saw him drowning. in all my dreams, before my sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. it suggests that the soldier's suffering is the speaker's fault.