bayonet charge- ted hughes

• "his sweat heavy" -inexperience -oppressive conditions
• "stumbling" -disorientated -kinetic -surreal
• "lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm" -desensitised - smashed arms are useless (allude to weapons being useless)
• "patriotic tear brimmed in his eye" -disillusioned
• "cold clockwork" -mechanical behaviour -blind loyalty -just a cog in a greater machine
• "was he the hand pointing that second?" -questioning himself -derealisation -reference to WW2 poster of guy pointing
• "foot hung statutory in mid-stride" -out of body experience -surreal
• "mouth wide, open silent... eyes standing out" -horrific image= grounds him
• theme: -war -patriotism -control -war
• form and structure: -irregular free verse (soldier lacks autonomy) -enjambment (mirrors kinetic quality of poem) -end stanza=reflective
• language: -gruesome imagery -semantic field of violence
• tone: -panic -confusion -realisation
• context: WW2 not glamorised=horrific