kamikaze

• The poem is set around the events of a kamikaze pilot flying to war and then turning back before it

  was too late. 
• Kamikaze pilots were expected to use up all their weapons and then suicide by flying

  into their targets as a final act of destruction.
• It was considered a great honour in Japan to die for

  your country. 
• The pilot in this poem returns home and is rejected by his family forever after, his

  own wife refusing to speak to him.
• The poem is written both from a narrator and the daughter of the pilot. The narrator explains the

  events, almost translating the story, while the speaker gives a first person account of how they

  excluded her father.
• The poet questions at the end which death would have been better, to die as a kamikaze pilot

  young or to grow old with a family who shut you out.
• The poem is set in a time and topic of conflict, however the real conflict is between the rules of a society ‘honour’ in Japanese culture, and

  the will to survive and return to a family. 
•  The conflict is particularly profound because there appears to be no right answer and the pilot dies,

  one way or another, in the eyes of his family, if not in body, the poem explores the futility of trying to avoid your own fate/destiny.
• The poem changes to italic/font during the penultimate stanzas and a previous line to indicate the change of speaker,

  from the narrator/translator to the daughter it appears as if the daughter is passing on the story to her own children and the narrator is

  explaining this process.
• The final couplet hits home the themes of the poem quite dramatically in a very sombre tone but does not offer opinion, challenging the

  reader to come to their own decision.
• The consistent structure uses quite regular syllable patterns drifting up and down in length, this gives the poem a tone of nostalgia, but also

  the rhythm of the waves which can represent a helplessness, that things will happen, whatever you do, he will still ‘die’ in one way or

  another.
• The use of asides and calm rural language juxtaposes the setting of war, giving the poem a much more personal scope on a major

  event.
• The poem contrasts the narrator and daughters voices in

  order to build a more personal and human tone to the poem

  as well as the pilots story.
• -The poem explores the futility of trying to avoid ones own

  origins and roots, be it natural or man made.
• -The use of rural fishing imagery contrasts the war based

  context and links the pilot to the fish inevitably caught and

  subject to fate.
• key quote 1- "Her father embarked at sunrise with a flask of water, a samurai sword in the cockpit"
• key quote 1- the kamikaze at the start of the poem is defined by his role of "Her father", this humanises him- almost as if Garland wants us to feel pity on the kamikaze, as he is going to sacrifice himself for Japan but he has strong familial relationships.
• key quote 1- the reference to "sunrise" is symbolic of the start of the day, new beginnings, which is ironic because he is on a mission to end his life. The reference to "water" is also ironic as it is associated with life and sustenance.
• key quote 1- he has a "samurai sword" with him which creates a sense of masculinity, and the sibilance used makes the pressure on men appear toxic, this shows that Garland wants us to feel pity on the kamikaze
• key quote 2- "he must have looked far down /at the little fishing boats strung out like bunting /on a green-blue translucent sea"
• key quote 2- the speaker refers to her dad using the pronoun "he" is perhaps her attempt at creating distance as him as a father and him as a kamikaze pilot, she's separating her dad from the man who couldn't complete the mission
• key quote 2- when the speaker says "must have" its almost as if she is trying to justify his decision
• key quote 2- the use of fricative alliteration ("far", "fishing") creates a reflective tone, mimicking the fathers nerves and doubts, as if Garland wanted us to understand how overwhelmed the kamikaze was
• key quote 2- the "little fishing boats" are a symbol of staying afloat, highlighting the human instinct to stay alive
• key quote 2- the use of the simile "like bunting" conveys how the kamikaze wants to cherish and celebrate life, as "bunting" is associated with decorations and parties. This is reinforced with the "green-blue" colour imagery as it creates an idyllic, peaceful image, as blue has connotations of the sky and sea, showing how he craves freedom, and green is associated with nature and life, and he doesn't want to deny himself the beauty of life.
• key quote 2- the use of the adjective "translucent", its almost as if the kamikaze can see the truth now, and he is struggling with inner conflict as he doesn't know if he should complete his duty, or enjoy the beauty of life
• key quote 3- "And though he came back /my mother never spoke again in his presence, nor did she meet his eyes and the neighbours too, they treated him as though he no longer existed"
• key quote 3- The speaker says that her mother didn't "meet" the "eyes" of her husband (the kamikaze) again, because she was ashamed of him, as if she wants to distance himself from him
• key quote 3- the possessive pronoun in "my mother" shows that the speaker doesn't blame her mother for her behaviour, as she realises that that's what the culture demanded of her, and she was humiliated by her husbands actions
• key quote 3- the use of polysyndeton shows that everyone treated the kamikaze this way once he returned, and he was shunned by everybody, which is reinforced by the enjambment, as it is perhaps used to give the idea that he is broken off from society, or to show that the experience broke his family apart
• "dark prince"- power of masculinity