bayonet charge Flashcards
bullets smacking the belly out of the air
highlights the danger of the battlefield.
Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame / And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide / Open silent, its eyes standing out.”
gruesome image of the brutality of war
stumbling
“His sweat heavy, / Stumbling across a field of clods”.
“Stumbling” indicates his lack of control as he is caught up in the chaos of war.
similes
“He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm”.
The image suggests the rifle is useless and therefore emphasises how vulnerable he is.
It could also foreshadow the injuries he might gain because of war.
what might the quote “cold clockwork” symbolize
fate
one soldier
Only the soldier is described.
This is startling, as war would be a place full of people.
Hughes’ decision not to mention any other people intensifies the sense of the soldier’s isolation.
It also highlights the idea that everything other than his own fear has become irrelevant.
listing
The poet lists things that seemed important to the soldier before the war – “King, honour, human dignity, etcetera / Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm / To get out of that blue crackling air”.
The poet lists them to show how futile all these things now are when faced with death.
The pointlessness of these things is reinforced through the choice of the word “etcetera”.
Iron tears
“The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye / Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”.
Comparing the tears to iron dehumanises the soldier and likens him to something mechanical.
The phrase “Sweating like molten iron” in the quote does not refer to physical sweating. Instead, it is a metaphorical description of the tear that has welled up in the soldier’s eye.
poets point
Hughes uses the poem to challenge traditional patriotic ideals. The ideals of glory, honour, and serving one’s country are shown to be irrelevant and meaningless when faced with the horrors of war.
in media res
starts in the middle of the action
