Kamikaze Flashcards
Context in poem
A daughter talking about her father (a kamikaze pilot)
Her father…
Her father embarked at sunrise with a flask of water, a samurai sword
Sibilance - sign of peace (reflect peace in death) (Also symbolised in sunrise - Japan “Rising sun” flag, Divinity (meeting god) )
Water is a symbol of purity (purifying himself spiritually)
Embarked - “To get on a boat” (Bark = Boat). Represents grandfather’s boat referenced later in poem, family.
Like a…
Like a huge flag waved first one way then the other in a figure of eight
Fish represent life
“Flag” represents patriotism - the sacrifice he is expected to make for his country
Sideways 8 = infinity - pilot is living immortally as a hero, but infinity is eternal death (absence of life forever)
Returns on itself - respresents his changing of mind.
The loose silver of whitebait and once a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.
Contradicts the converntional interpretation of the poem (implies that the daughter has allowed him to talk to his grandchildren, opposed to the “living death” imposed on him by others
