Bayonet Charge Flashcards
Stanza breakdown
Stanza 1: charging towards enemy, stumbling across a field towards a hedge
Stanza 2: contemplates why he is doing it and why he is there, no point in war
Stanza 3: focus shifts to a hare that has found itself caught up in the midst of war. Hughs criticises the patriotism of the soldiers pointing out how honour means nothing when faced with the true horror of war
When was Ted Hughes born
1930 so doesn’t show his own personal experience, an imagine account
What does the poem focus on
Focuses of reality of war, and how its true horror is ultimately indescribable
What is the effect of the in media res
The result is that we are confused and unsure of what is happening, just like the frightened soldier
What is the effect of the constant Enjambment an example of this
Then the shot-slashed furrows // threw up a yellow hare
Creates a disjointed, disordered effect on the reader - just like the soldier, the reader struggles to make sense of the chaos
What is the effect of the 2 examples of caesura
Only used in the second stanza, when the solider stops to consider what he is doing and why. This caesura forces the reader, like the soldier, to stop and think
What is the effect of the repetition of raw and where is it used
Stanza 1: ‘suddenly he awoke and was running - raw // in raw seamed hot khaki’
- repetition means it doesn’t flow well
- repetition reflects the shock the soldier has experienced upon waking - its as if he is struggling to articulate the moment
- fits in with the theme: war is so horrific the poet is unable to clearly express the moment, and instead stutter
What is the combined effect of all the similes
Hughs doesn’t know how to actually describe the moment. The best he can do is compare it to something he can describe
Hugh’s use of tone example and effect
- Stanza 3 (last): ‘king, honour, human dignity, etcetera’.
- ‘etcetera’ is mocking the patriotic values the soldiers supposedly have.
- these noble virtues mean little or nothing in the heat of battle
What is the effect of Hugh’s referring to the soldier as ‘he’
Backs up the motion that this poem is a critique of war, the solider is not named as the poem is not about 1 solider, it’s about all soldiers
Final line of poem and its effect
‘His terror is touchy dynamite’- metaphor
- despite his objections, the soldier has become a killing machine
- sums up the danger he can potentially inflict upon others
What does this poem compare well with
Reality of war: ‘exposure’, ‘COTLB’, ‘remains’, ‘WP’, ‘Kamikaze
