Bayonet Charge

Question 1

About ?

Answer 1

• the poem starts in the middle of the action. A soldier,dazzled by the enemy fire,charges towards a green hedge with his bayonet.
• The air is thick with bullets and the other soldier suddenly slows down,contemplating his motives
• The soldier encounters a flaming hare,and hurries past, forgetting the reason he went to war in the first place

Question 2

Form and Structure

Answer 2

• The poem is written in media res,dropping us straight into the action and adding to the drama of the soldier who ,like the reader,is unprepared.
• the poem is written in three stanzas of free verse. There lots of enjambment and caesura.
• There is the one really long sentence which leaves the reader breathless and again reflects the experience of the soldier.
• The use of dashes reflects the fragmented thoughts and actions of the bewildered soldier.

Question 3

Key Quotes

Answer 3

• Suddenly he awoke and was running
• Stumbling across a field of clods
• Dazzled with rifle fire
• Bullets smacking the belly out of the air
• Patriotic tear…sweating his footfalls for the reason
• Yellow hare that rolled like a flame
• King,honor,human dignity,ecectra
• Dropped like luxuries

Question 4

Language and themes

Answer 4

• Images of the natural world are used to contrast the bleak,dull reality of war in the trenches.
• robotic,mechanical language makes the soldier appear emotionless and inhuman
• The use of the word etcectra to conclude the motives for going to war creates and anti-climax
• Figurative,plosive language is used to personify the bullets.

Question 5

What poems can you compare with conflict,reality of war and fear ?

Answer 5

• Exposure
• The prelude
• Charge of the light Bridge