Bayonet Charge Flashcards
Analysis of title (8)
- direct
- weapon
- united group
- human
- processed
- animalistic and aggressive
- violence
- energy and adrenaline
Context (6)
- Ted Hughes
- Hughes father was a WW1 veteran
- Hughes was former RAF serviceman
- Poem about being brought back to terrifying reality
- Soldier has no identity
- Hughes is a poet laureate
Semantic field (3)
NATURE: Beauty and peace, in our nature to go to war WAR: Death, conflict, violence FIRE: Pain
Poems linking to Bayonet charge (2)
Charge of the light brigade - no identity
Exposure - satirical on war
Metaphor for death
“Yellow hare” - rabbit being blinded by head lights on a road
Links to “dazzled” and “flame” –> juxtaposition of fire (bad) with something dazzling (good) –> blinded
Quotes for uncomfort (3)
“Crawled” - claustrophobic
“Threshing” - flesh, gruesome
“Raw” repeated - no preparation, not ready, not natural
Analysis of ceasura
“Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest, -“
- prolonged pause
- him stopping to think, poem is his thought process
- shock horror of the current events
- “molten iron” –> dehumanised, now a weapon
Key themes (2)
- dehumanisation
- abused of power of authority
Analysis of satire
“King, honour, human dignity, etcetera”
- satire
- Hughes showing how much he hates war
- Satirising the thought that soldiers are ‘heroes’ –> juxtaposition with Charge of the light brigade as they salute the soldiers
- commas create heartbeat –> link to adrenaline
Analysis of urgency and pulse
“Like a man who has JUMPED up in the dark and RUNS”
- urgency
- build up of pace
- impulsive
- not thinking straight
- effect of war on men and their thought process
- agitated
Analysis of end line
“His terror’s touchy dynamite”
- alliteration, hard consonant sounds (harsh)
- bitter tone
- dangerous
- inevitable death, his terror will be his harmartia
Analysis of first line
“Suddenly he awoke and was running - raw”
- jumps straight in
- constantly alert
- alliteration
- “raw” –> uncomfortable repetition
