Bayonet Charge Flashcards
Themes
Effects of war
Horrors of war
Fear
Context, structure and form
Context:
- Nameless solider running across no mans land with a bayonet.
- highlights the brutality of trench warfare as a tribute to his father’s suffering as well as a way to memorialise war as a warning for future generation
structure:
- Use of a lot of enjambment making it fast pace and chaotic.
- Caesura to force a stop in reader to reflect and consider war a social and political construct
- Starts in media res - unprepared and surprise
- free verse
- third person singular used to isolate soldier-
- No rhythm or pattern to the syllables or stanza lengths in the poem, creates a sense of chaos
- Disjointed poem reflects disjointed experience of solider
First quote
“suddenly he awoke and was running - raw”
“ In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy”
First quote analysis
Media res, enjambment, contrast :
- Dramatic opening - gives us the author’s POV, war is like an unnatural awakening from our normal lives being a dream. The soldier is now aware and conscious of himself being in war
- enjambment of “raw” gives us the idea of how painful war is, emotionally and physically, shows that the solider is a young and isn’t ready for war - will deal with physical and physiological trauma from war.
- Contrasts the experience of war with the dream of real life through speed and suddenness - contrasting with length of sentence being long. Gives poem a sense of desperation and breathlessness - mimicking the soldiers breathlessness.
- His sweat is a weight that is slowing him down, creates sense of desperation
- Enjambment and repetition, slow the action down, showing that this run is taking way too long. soldier is trapped in time and is exposed to death.
Second quote
“bullets smacking the belly out of the air- He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm”
Second quote analysis
Alliteration - Personification - Irony - simile - monotony - Assonance :
- Alliteration of bullets and belly creates a comical tone juxtaposing the reality and severeness of this situation. Conveys soldiers happiness and amusement to not being killed, ironic, as if it smacks his belly he will die
- This also shows that not only are humans being affected by war but so nature
- Use of metonymy to show that the soldier is the one that is numb and he needs to numb and unfearful to fight in war
- Assonance of lugged and numb, to show sense of urgency in his mind compared to the slowness of which he is moving
- The rifle is an object like a smashed arm that is slowing him down, it is useless, he feels let down and disappointed by the rifles ability
- The rifle is like his arm and is a remaining part of him such as the trauma and mental scarring of war has remain with him
Third quote
In what cold clock work of the stars and the nations was he the hand pointing that second?
Third quote analysis
- Also uses the image of a physical hand pointing, linking to the recruitment poster with the pointing hand of general Kitchener telling people to go to war, therefore questioning his choice of going to war and becoming a soldier and possibly even trying to convince the reader not to go to war
Fourth quote
” Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame and crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide “
Fourth quote analysis
Disturbing imagery - symbolism - metaphor - Semantic field - juxtaposition of langauge:
- Used a symbol of innocence and terror at the same time. shows that nature is also affected by war and not just humans.
- Possibly could be a symbol of another soldier running across
- Juxtaposes the speed of movement of the situation to the verbs used to describe the speed of movement helping to show that the hare is also stuck time and is desperation to escape the warzone and is also exposing its self to death just like solider
- Biblical reference to life being cut down due to thresher cutting down corn.
- The use of the words “rolled” and “circle” war feels like a cycle that’s never ending in this moment. outside of the moment, Ted Hughs is trying to convey that war its self if a cycle that we can’t escape
Fifth quote
“king, honour, human dignity, etcetera - Dropped like luxuries”
Fifth quote analysis
List - simile - colloquial language:
- Patriotism now accounts to nothing during war, it is no longer valued, showing that reality is different in battle
- Dying an “Honourable” death is a bizarre social construct, doesn’t motivate you during heat of battle
- “etcetera” - trivialises and ridicules these values seemed in important in the dream state however he now has a moment of fantastic clarity where only life and living is important during the moment of battle and not social constructs
Sixth quote
“his terror’s touchy dynamite”
Sixth quote analysis
Metaphor - Alliteration - Juxtaposition:
- Use of “touchy” shows that Ted Hughes is dealing with the feelings of soldier after war, for example his father who fought in the first world war and this is a recreation of his father’s experience.
- Suggests that his father is still extremely
sensitive to the terror of the war, years
and years after the war
- Poem is now the reliving of that moment
that he is trying to escape
- Invites to imagine the soldier after the war
still being a victim of his terror and maybe
even being quite terrifying to those around
his. he is still the dynamite - volatile with a
temper
- Could also be an interpretation as the soldier’s anger towards these ridiculous social constructs that brought him to war. The dynamite is his terror of the justification to go to war and the idea that people will continue to go to war because of these false reasons
