Bayonet Charge

Question 1

What are the most important quotes from Bayonet Charge?

Answer 1

• “Bullets smacking the belly out of the air”
• “The patriotic tear… sweating like moltern iron”
• “threw up a yellow hare”

Question 2

Analyse the quotation: “Bullets smacking the belly out of the air”

Answer 2

• The bullets are personified which might suggest that the soldier has been surrounded by them so much that he sees them as a comrade “smacking” the enemy along with him.
• The personified bullets and the semantic body parts with “belly” and “smashed arm” blur the line between man and weapon which dehumanises the soldier and personidies the bullets. This may create an idea that the soldier feels as though the bullets are more pure and human-like than him. he feels as though the horrors he has seen and the things he has done has made him less of a human than a killing machine.
• The belly is being smacked out of the air could be a metaphor for the way that the soldier feels sick with guilt at what he has experienced.

Question 3

Which poem is the quote: “Bullets smacking the belly out of the air” from?

Answer 3

Bayonet Charge

Question 4

Analyse the quotation: “The patriotic tear… sweating like moltern iron”

Answer 4

• the juxtaposed ideas of patriotic tear: a beautiful, regal and noble thing full of emotion which is contrasted with “sweating like molten iron” which shows that the soldier compares himself with an unfeeling machine which dehumanises the soldier and likens him more to a tank or a machine.
• “patriotic tear” may suggest that he isn’t surviving and fighting for himself but for those he loves at home. The tear that is shed suggests that he, like most soldiers in wars, wishes that they weren’t appart from them but is greatful that he can protect them. This internal conflict is prominant throughout the poem.
• “moltern” suggests that he is full of red hot anger that has burst from him which contrasts with the machine references as he clearly has extreme emotions.

Question 5

What poem is this quotation from: “The patriotic tear… sweating like moltern iron”

Answer 5

Bayonet Charge

Question 6

Analyse the quotation: “threw up a yellow hare”

Answer 6

• this could be a metaphor, is it a real hare? Yellow is the colour of fear and hares are prey which implies a more innocent and frail image. They are natural and often frightened easily which juxtaposes his own machine like nature. This could be another soldier that is scared and trying to escape. This harsh contrast between the two makes the reader realise just how far this soldier has slipped into a desensitized world where he accepts everything which expresses the true extent of the horrors of war: it’s not just physical but mental blockages that will someday break.

Question 7

What is this quotation from? “threw up a yellow hare”

Answer 7

Bayonet Charge