Kamikaze Flashcards
what is the poem about?
a piolet sets of on his mission to fly into enemy ships but he turned around, his daughter believes it was because he saw beauty of nature but when he returned him his family acted as if he wasn’t there
‘embarked at sunrise’
creates a sense of journey and Japan is known as the ‘land of the rising sun’, so this may reference to his location
‘full of powerful incantations’
pilot was under a kind of spell, hints at the influence of patriotic propaganda that Kamikazes were exposed to. they were told that it was a big honour to die for their country
‘at the little fishing boats’
Irony - the pilot should have been aiming for big enemy ships, but little fishing boats catch his eye
‘strung out like bunting’
simile is homely and pretty - nothing like war. bunting is associated with celebration which makes it ironic - there is not victorious return for the pilot
‘like a huge flag waved first one way’
Flags are a symbol of the national identity, but here the flags are used to stop or direct something
‘built cairns of pearl-grey pebbles’
innocent childhood activities which contrast with the pilots job in the war
‘safe’
repetition - hints at the pilots mindset, he doesn’t want his children to go through the pain of losing him
‘cloud-marked mackerel, black crabs, feathery prawns’
all the sea creatures are given extra description. The cumulative effect of the list highlights their beauty and significance to the pilot
‘and though he came back’
we hear the daughter’s voice in direct speech again. she speaks in a more factual, less descriptive way about her fathers subsequent life, which hints her pain and empathy with him
‘they treated him as if he no longer existed’
irony - he survived, but he is still treated as if he is dead
‘was no longer a father we loved’
hints that the pilot was changed by his experience
‘and sometimes, she said, he must have wondered which had been the better way to die’
short sentence - the destructiveness of patriotism - the pilots family are so ashamed that they treat him as if he is death
what themes are in the poem?
power of nature, loss and absence, identity
power of nature in ‘kamikaze’?
nature is presented as one of the reasons why the pilot turned back. his daughter thought that they beauty of the scene below him compelled him to abandon his mission
