Kamikaze Flashcards
What is the rhyme scheme of Kamikaze?
Free verse
What form is the poem in?
Narrative
What effect does the form of Kamikaze have on the reader?
The narrative is written from two different perspectives, the narrator, and the daughter, denoted by italics. This style of narration creates a sense of detachment which reflects the distance the speaker feels from her father’s life as she grew up not knowing him.
What is the effect of the shift in narration from third to first person?
This signifies a drastic shift from external to internal, showing the impact the war has had on her as a small child. This memory of her father is very personal, and ask such, there is a shift in perspective. The final line returns to the third person “he must have wondered”, which signifies the detachment, either from the culture which shunned her father, or a desire to detach herself from her father.
What is the structure of Kamikaze?
Tightly controlled stanzas of 6 lines, with enjmabment and free verse.
What effect does the structure of Kamikaze have?
The tightly controlled 6 line stanzas reflect the order and obedience expected from a Japanese soldier, however this obedience is undermined by the free verse and enjambment present in the rest of the poem. This signifies that soldiers are not just statistics or mindless organisms, following orders, but rather, actual people.
Good quotes
“shaven head full of powerful incantations”
“green-blue translucent sea”
“a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous”
“nor did she meet his eyes”
“to live as though he had never returned”
“which had been the better way to die”
Analysis of “shaven head full of powerful incantations”
He is under the spell of patriotism and propaganda, unable to make his own decisions, and the only thing that can break that spell is observing nature.
Analysis of “green-blue translucent sea”
Connotations of peace and tranquillity through the colour imagery. He doesn’t want to deny himself the pleasure of seeing that sea again.
Analysis of “a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous”
Signifies the imbalance of power between nature and humanity. Even a Kamikaze pilot is afraid of the “dark prince”. It is the only thing in the poem described as dangerous, even the pilot is not. The metaphor of “dark prince” denotes that it is deserving of reverence and respect.
Analysis of “nor did she meet his eyes”
The societal guilt that even his own family feels towards him is incredibly high, so high that his own wife will not “meet his eyes” as she does not want to communicate with him.
Analysis of “to live as though he had never returned”
Rather than going on a “one way trip into history”, he traded that for a lifetime of being forgotten and ignored. Suggests the father is physically alive, but societally dead.
Analysis of “which had been the better way to die”
Both living and dying offer death, but in different ways. Implies that soldiers are controlled by indoctrination and propaganda, used as tools of the government. The shift from first to third person possibly suggests the speaker doesn’t agree with this societal view.
The final word being “die” creates a sense of futility and inevitable fate to all Kamikaze pilots. Either they die physically, or die societally. Either way, they will die.
