Bayonet Charge

Question 1

‘_________ he awoke and ___ _______ ___’

Answer 1

‘suddenly he awoke and was running raw’
- Poem begins in media res (captures reader instantly) = shows hoe soldier is thrust into the heat of the battle
- Alliteration of R and H sounds gives sense of hard work/ heavy breathing
- ‘suddenly’ makes the reader confused as to what’s happening = same as the soldier (reality of conflict)
- Patriotism may have been what blinded him to sign up without knowing what he’d face

Question 2

‘___ _______ tear… sweating ____ ______ iron’

Answer 2

‘The patriotic tear… sweating like molten iron’
- Patriotism is what compelled the soldiers to go to war and it’s what leaves him (in the form of a tear) as he decides to save himself
- He’s dehumanised through this simile comparing the soldier to metal
- The soldiers are like wind up toy soldiers in a game led by those in power (winded up and sent to their death unwillingly)

Question 3

’

Answer 3

‘he almost stopped - In what cold clockwork’
- harsh alliterative consonants ‘cold clockwork’ re emphasise the mechanical and emotionless nature of war
- war will keep going no matter of what happens around = it’s blind to the suffering of the humans that fight it
- He is a metaphorical cog in a machine
- He has stopped in his confusion and realised the absurdity (unreasonableness) of war