Bayonet Charge - Ted Hughes Flashcards
‘running’ ‘sumbling’ ‘sweating’ ‘running’ ‘running’ ‘yelling’
verbs throughout give an impression that they are constantly moving having to get away, there is no end it is eternal.
‘suddenly he awoke’
adverb suddenly being in media res, giving an abrupt start,shaken, unpredictable start which shows how unpredictable war is
Bullets smacking the belly out of the air he lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm
Violent imagery and onomatopoeia describes the sound and impact of the shots. The bullets are personified and the noun belly and adjective smashed arm blurs the line between weapon and man, dehumanising the soldiers.
The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest
Juxtaposed ideas of patriotic tear, a beautiful and noble thing contrasted with sweating like molten iron which further dehumanises the soldiers and likens him more to a tank or machine.
In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations was he the hand pointing that second?
Clockwork is a metaphor for his actions that are now un human like. Trivialises war to a game of toy soldiers between nations. The rhetorical slows the pace which indicates the poet is stopping to think what he has become.
He plunged past with his bayonet toward the green hedge
Plunges implies him being in too deep to the point of no return. Once again there is another contrast between nature and war. The bayonet that kills juxtaposed with a hedge that represents life and growth.
His terror’s touchy dynamite
The soldier seems to have become a weapon rather than a human being. He’s driven purely by his terror. Could also be a metaphor for his fear being like explosive dynamite. The consonance of the t sounds emphasises the adrenaline rush and almost animal like reactions - touchy - jumpy.
‘in raw seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy,’
caesura mimics a solider catching his breath, so overwhelmed and he cannot breathe
context
It is thought that in Bayonet Charge Hughes wanted to highlight the brutality of trench warfare as a tribute to his father’s suffering as well as a way to memorialize war as a warning for future generations.
