Bayonet Charge Flashcards
Form and structure
Hughes uses a three stanza structure in order to describe the soldier’s charge. The soldier’s movements and thoughts over a short
space of time are described.
Third person is used in order to present the soldier as a universal figure who could represent any young soldier.
Present tense is used to create the feeling of movement and continuous motion (in stanzas 1 and 3).
Stanza 1: the poem starts ‘in medias res’ meaning ‘in the middle of the action. This creates a disjointed feeling and creates a sense
of frantic pace and the terrified thoughts of the soldier.
Enjambment is used throughout the stanzas in order to further add to the sense of disorientation the soldier feels and create the
sense of the forward motion (running) of the soldier in stanzas 1 and 3.
The pace of stanza 2 is much slower. The first line of stanza slows the action and the use of the dash at the end of it forces the
reader to focus upon the thoughts in the soldier’s mind. In line 11 the poet also uses caesura to slow the pace of the poem and to
draw the reader’s attention to one of the key ideas in the poem of the contrast between the idealism of patriotism and the reality of
fighting and killing.
By the last stanza the solider has abandoned his thoughts and ideals and is driven purely by his terror. On the last line of the poem,
the poet has made the soldier synonymous with a weapon of war (‘dynamite’) suggesting that the soldier’s terror has taken his
humanity and left him as a weapon
Random use of punctuation in stanza 2 which shows lack of control and confusion
First sentence finishes at line 11 and 4 sentences in whole poem show a sense of panic and confusion
Language in stanza 1
Adverb-suddenly he awoke and was running-raw: the adverb ‘suddenly’ suggests lack of control
Verbs.
The use of verbs give a frantic sense as the soldier makes his charge. In stanza one, the soldier acts from terror and is overwhelmed
and confused by the sights, sounds, movement and situation. For example the poet juxtaposes the following verbs: ‘awoke’,
‘running’, ‘stumbling’, ‘dazzled’, ‘smacking’ and ‘lugged’.
Simile-‘the patriotic fear that had brimmed his eye sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest’-suggests how extreme his discomfort is which suggests anxiety as iron melts at hot temperatures.
show how his feelings of and belief in patriotism have been changed into fear due to the
horrendous reality of war.
Language stanza 2
In stanza two the poet switches to the feelings and thoughts of the soldier. The first three lines of the stanza explore the soldier’s
confusion about why he is part of the charge and realisation of how insignificant his life appears at that moment. The use of
metaphor and alliteration ‘cold clockwork of the stars’ reflects the cruel and futile aspects of war which takes the soldier’s life out
of his control and makes him feel powerless in the hands of fate but also powerless as a young soldier under government control.
‘He was running Like a man who has jumped into the dark’- suggests bewilderment as ‘dar’ causes uncertainty
‘His foot hing like statuary in mid-stride’-statue is inaminet which shows the damage war does to environment-metaphor
Presentation of war
The poet uses onomatopoeia such as ‘smacking’ and ‘smashed’ in order to create/mimic the sounds of war. This creates auditory
imagery of how dangerous war can be and how the soldier’s life hangs perilously in the hands of fate.
Alliteration ‘terror’s touchy dynamite’ suggests a sense of panic as ‘T’ is a sound of shivering
Presentation of nature
Nature is presented as a victim of war-‘the battlefield is described as ‘shot-slashed furrows’-the use of sibilance implies that the field is also wounded by the bullets
In stanza three the innocent hare is a symbol of death and parallels of life of soldier. ‘Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame and crawled in threshing circle’ to convery the hares frantic movement and is a simile to describe the distressing image and pain of hare.
The use of the colour yellow could be linked to cowardice or even illness, infection.
At this point of high fear, time slows for him
to notice the hare thrown up violently away from its natural habitat, paralleling how he is out of his natural habitat. It may be suggested that it is almost like the soldier is looking at himself. Instinctively, in spite of his fear and cowardice, he keeps going. This could be because the hare is a ‘warning’ to the soldier or that he has lost his feelings of humanity and runs as a ‘machine’.
