Bayonet Charge by Ted Hughes

Question 1

Content, Meaning and Purpose

Answer 1

1. A single soldier’s experience of a charge towards enemy lines over no man’s land.
2. The soldier’s patriotism is replaced with fear as he realises he is just a cog in the machine of war.
3. Hughes examines the futility of war within his poem.

Question 2

Context

Answer 2

1. Hughes briefly served in the RAF but did not experience live conflict.
2. His father was in WW1.
3. Influenced by Wilfred Owen.
4. Grew up in Rural Yorkshire.