Bayonet Charge Flashcards
(BC) themes
- fear
- doubt
- futility
- survival
- impact of conflict
(BC) “suddenly”
Adverb
Puts the reader in medias res - chaos
(BC) “he”
Third person narrative through the pronoun
Hughes never went to war
He feels disconected
Also that the soldiers are nameless, thus insignificant
(BC) “bullets smacking the belly”
Plosive alliteration and personification
Emphasizes the violence and destruction around the soldier
Also sounds like bullet fire
(BC) “rifle numb as a smashed arm”
simile
Soldier is paralysed by fear
Also the weapons are unfeeling, as is war generally
(BC) “like molten iron”
Simile
The soldier realizes his patriotic values are a burden, and are irrational
(BC) “cold clockwork”
Metaphor, imagery of time and alliteration
The soldier realizes he is a cog in a never ending conflict
Also, the alliteration emphasizes the fact the state do not care if they die
(BC) “in the dark”
Colour imagery
Symbolic of naïvety of soldiers joining and the futility of the conflict
(BC) “still running”
Oxymoron
Demonstrates how the soldier is conflicted internally about his beliefs
Running mindlessly
(BC) “like statuary in mid-stride”
simile
Illustrates the soldier’s increasing reluctance to continue
(BC) “yellow hare that rolled like a flame”
Colour imagery and simile
The soldier’s fear is emphasized
Also pain and destruction is reinforced
(BC) “threshing circle”
Metaphor
The soldier reflects on war as an endless cycle of pain and destruction
(BC) “mouth wide open silent, its eyes standing out”
Imagery of death
foreshadows the soldier’s death
(BC) “king, honour, human dignity, etcetera”
List with a dismissive tone
The soldier now firmly believes all his reasons for fighting are meaningless
(BC) “dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm”
simile and anthropomorphism
Emphasizes how moral principals are meaningless in war
Also, war brings out primal instincts
