Bayonet Charge Flashcards
List all the techniques
FORM:
Irregular line length & rhythm
Confusing layout & fast pace
3rd person pronoun narrative
STRUCTURE: Enjambment - caesuras FLI LLI Change of pace
LANGUAGE: Distressing imagery Personification with onomatopoeia Simile - foreshadow Repetition List Alliteration Patriotic mention War and nature jargon Verbs
Who wrote it?
Ted Hughes
When was it published?
1957
Why was it written?
To show the effect of going ‘over the top’ (out of trenches into battle)
What are the poet’s attitudes?
Terror - questions patriotism
Confusion - physical disorientation and questioning
Who was Hughes?
A 20th century poet
His dad fought in WW1
Hughes spent 2 years working as a mechanic in the RAF
What’s the poem about?
A single soldier’s experience of a charge towards enemy lines
Recite your introduction sentence
Bayonet Charge, published in 1957 by Ted Hughes, follows a single soldier’s experience of a charge towards enemy lines, and the effect of going ‘over the top’ (a term used by WW1 soldiers to mean going out of the trenches into battle).
Recite your conclusion
Hughes was a 20th century poet whose father fought in WW1, and Hughes himself spent two years working as a mechanic in the RAF, so can write accurately about the terror and confusion thrust upon soldiers. The main purpose of his poem was to show the reality of conflict, and how it wasn’t as patriotic as believed.
