Bayonet Charge Flashcards
Content and meaning
Describe terrifying experience of going over top/ fixing bayonets to end of rifle and charging to enemy
Steps inside body and mind of speaker show how act transforms soldier from a living thinking person into dangerous weapon of war
Hughes dramatised struggle between a mans thoughts and actions
Language
Patriotic tear that brimmed in his eye, sweating like molten iron: sense of duty (tear) now turned into the hot sweat of fear and pain
Cold clockwork of stars and nations: the soldiers are part of a cold uncaring machine of war
His foot hung like statuary in mid-stride: he froze with fear/bewilderment. Caesura jolts back to reality
A yellow hare that rolled like a flame and crawled in threshing circle: impact of war on nature- hare distressed just like soldier
Structure
Poet starts in medias res: convey shock and pace
Enjambment maintains momentum of charge
Time stands still in second stanza to convey soldiers bewilderment and reflective thoughts
Contrasts the visual and aural imagery of battle with internal thoughts of soldiers = adds to confusion. Smacking the belly out of the air. In bewilderment
