Bayonet Charge Quotes

Question 1

Iambic Rhythm and Trochaic Rhythm

Answer 1

• Disconcerts us, like the soldier’s run.

Question 2

“Suddenly he awoke and was running- raw
in raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy”

Answer 2

• In Media Res
• Soldier has awakened from the dream of real life.
• Enjambment of ‘raw’, shows how painful war is emotionally & physically.
• ‘Raw’, homophone. Read backwards as ‘war’.
• Contrast between speed of ‘suddenly’ and ‘running’ to the never-ending sentence.
• Mimics the breathlessness of the soldier.

Question 3

“Bullets smacking the belly out of the air”
“He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm”

Answer 3

• Alliteration, personification.
• Comedy, conveys soldiers relief & amusement he is not being killed by the bullets.
• ‘Numb’, needs to suppress his fear.
• Assonance, lugged & numb. Conveys urgency in mind compared to how slow he is moving.

Question 4

“In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations
Was he the hand pointing that second? He was running”

Answer 4

• “Cold clockwork of the stars”, Fate.
• “And the nations”, realised he was fooled by propaganda.
• Imagining every second a new life is killed.
• “Hand pointing”, reference to Britons war propaganda.

Question 5

“Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame”
“And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide”

Answer 5

• Starts to notice his surroundings.
• “Threshing”, “rolled”, fast movement of soldier.
• Contrasts to slow movement of hare, “crawled”, hare exposing itself to death.
• Hare acts as a symbol for the soldier.
• Ironic as hares are usually fast, conveys soldier’s madness in war.
• “Rolling”, “circle”, conveys war as never-ending.

Question 6

“King, honour, human dignity, etcetera
Dropped like luxuries”

Answer 6

• Tripartite
• Everything is stripped from the soldier in war.
• Patriotism is futile, honourable deaths are a bizarre social construct.
• Reasons people go to war.