Kamikaze Flashcards
Who wrote Kamikaze
Beatrice Garland
What is the poem literally about
Explore’s a daughters reflection while telling her children about her father who was a kamikaze pilot in WW2 and decided not to complete his suicide mission
What type of missions were Japanese pilots sent on in WW2? Was it seen as an honor or not?
Suicide missions. It was seen as an honor
How many generations of people does the poem contain
4 - grandfather, her father, daughter, her children
The poem reflects the immense ______ pressure on pilots
Social pressure
What consequences does the poem show
How pilots who didn’t commit their suicide missions were shunned by their family and society and condemned for their failure.
What structure is the poem written in
Tightly controlled stanzas of 6 lines each
What form techniques does the poem have (3)
Perspective shifts (third person narrative sometimes establishes sense of detachment)
Volta (turn/change in poem) - shift from third to first person (shows war trauma is passed through generations)
Enjambment (psychological chaos)
What are the 3 key themes
power of nature, effects of conflict, identity
‘_____ blue ___________ sea’
‘green blue translucent sea’
- Image of natural beauty = doesn’t want to miss out on this
- Adjective ‘translucent’ = beginning to see through government propaganda
- Blue shows serenity = juxtaposes his deadly mission
‘dark ______ of ______ flashing silver’
‘dark shoals of fishes flashing silver’
- Fish imagery = fish is a symbol of Japanese culture (represents courage and bravery)
- Appreciating wonder of nature, he wants to stay = power of nature
- sibilance mirrors calming sound of water = serenity
- silver = biblical reference (Judas betraying Jesus with 30 pieces of silver - shows the pilots betrayal)
‘he must ____ ________ which had ____ the ______ ___ to ___’
‘he must have wondered which had been the better way to die’
- Pilot finds himself metaphorically death - shows strength of societal views
- Dramatic shift from external to internal suffering/conflict
- destruction of patriotism (love for your country)
‘____ of powerful ____________’
‘full of powerful incantations’
- Shows the power and control patriotism has on society and individuals as it’s hypnotic and bewitching
- Suggests pilot is indoctrinated but later on nature’s beauty breaks this
- Contextually Japanese soldiers were taught they could only win the war through self sacrifice = Garland subtly disapproves of the brainwashing
