bayonet charge

Question 1

“patriotic

Answer 1

• tear that brimmed in his eye”
• while the soldier was once proud to wear his uniform and carry his weapon (in the form of patriotism,) he was not feeling patriotic at this time.
• patriotism left his body through the sweat and tears (the pain and emotional torment that he is enduring)
• driven by patriarchy- patriotism clouds his judgement of right and wrong, similarly to the way a tear clouds vision

Question 2

“stumbling

Answer 2

towards a field of clouds towards a green hedge”

• the green hedge is seemingly the only part of untouched nature amongst a ruined landscape
• ## matephorically, a symbol of hope amongst the surrounding destruction

Question 3

“dazzled

Answer 3

with rifle fire”

• “dazzled” glamorises the rifle fire, juxtaposing the surrounding destruction

Question 4

“his foot

Answer 4

hung like statuary in mid stride. ”

• a collection of statues- other soldiers are experiencing the same thing, intense psychological turmoil
• caesura represents a pause in action: fear

Question 5

“he plunged

Answer 5

past with his bayonet toward the green hedge”

• plosive alliteration quickens the pace of the poem, reflecting the desperation to reach the hedge that he has been fixated on charging towards.

Question 6

“king,

Answer 6

honour, human dignity etcetera dropped like luxuries in yelling alarm”

• initial reason for his fighting has become meaningless: he’s mocking war
• he does not care for his country, he prioritises himself: his desperation to survive has surpassed his want to fight, emphasised through the comparison to luxuries: something usually regarded as high in value. dropped quickly reflects how meaningless it has become.

Question 7

“his terrors

Answer 7

touchy dynamite”

• possessive pronoun: the soldier has been reduced to merely a weapon of war, not valued as an individual human being: he is nothing more than a man used by greater forces than he, to accomplish their own goals.
• temperamental and could explode any second: perhaps the thing that is about to explode, is his terror
• explosion creates anticipation: the soldier is metaphorically on the verge of exploding