Bayonet Charge Flashcards
“Suddenly”
In media res - Emphasis on immediacy of war.
Starts poem with a fast pace.
“In raw-seamed hot khaki.”
The repletion of “raw” emphasises his discomfort.
“He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm.”
Simile - shows the awkward movement of the soldier.
Dynamic verbs - Emphasises power of war.
“numb” could mean physically and emotionally numb.
“The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye.”
Past tense and enjambment.
He was once proud and patriotic but now feels nothing,
Tear has turned into sweat.
“In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations was he the hand pointing that second?”
Wondering why fate has taken him here.
The cold heart of leaders has brought him and others here to their doom.
“He was running like a man who has jumped up in the dark.”
Simile - Listening for the reason as to why he’s running.
“Dark” represents his unknowingness.
“Shot-slashed furrows.”
Alliteration highlights that war damages nature.
“Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame.”
The hare is a metaphor for the soldier.
Both are suffering due to the war.
“King, honour, human dignity, etcetera dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm.”
The caesuras represent fractured thoughts.
He belittles the abstract reasons as to why he went to war.
His terror’s touchy dynamite.”
The alliteration emphasises how desperate the soldier has become.
He feels terror and fear.
Metaphorically became a bomb for those in power,
Context
Hughes father was a WW1 veteran and served in the RAF.
Inspired by Wilfred Owen.
Main themes
Nature and humanity’s place in it.
Poem could be criticising the government for sending young boys to war.
