bayonet charge

• Synopsis of Bayonet Charge

  A soldier is thrown into a battle completely unprepared. He is clumsy and confused. He pauses on the battlefield to consider his role in war. A hare gets thrown infront of him from the fighting. The hare is dying and suffering infront of him which jolts him back to consciousness. He realises the danger he is in. Reverts to his instincts and run towards the battle in fear.
• Context about Ted Hudges (1930-1998)

  Ted Hughes, was a famous war poet. However, as he wasn't alive during WW1 and was a child during WW2, he never fought or saw war firsthand. Instead, Hughes grew up in the post-war era and saw its influence in his home in Yorkshire. This rural upbringing is evident in his poetry which usually focuses on animals.
• In what era was Hughes writing?

  Post-war era influenced by WW1 and WW2
• In which war is Bayonet Charge set?

  World War I
• What does Hughes aim to highlight in Bayonet Charge?

  The brutality of trench warfare
• What is the purpose of Hughes memorializing war in his poetry?

  As a warning for future generations
• Who inspired Hughes in writing Bayonet Charge?

  Wilfred Owen
• " Bullets smacking the belly out of the air /

  he lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm"

  Violent imagery and onomatopoeia describes the sound and impact of the shots

  Metaphor creates a tense, violent atmospher which also alludes to someone being winded and unable to breath

  "Numb" suggests a sense of uselessness - the soldier feels powerless even with the rifle
• "The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest"

  It reveals that the soldier is patriotic and shows physical devotion for his country but also presents juxtaposed ideas. The patriotic tear, a beautiful and noble thing contrasted with sweating like molten iron which further dehumanises the soldiers and likens him more to a tank or machine. Fear appears to have taken over the soldier's patriotism.
• "In what cold cloclwork of the stars and the nations was he the hand pointing that second?"

  "Cold clockwork" is a metaphor that depicts mechanical imagery - emphasised by the harsh alliteration and implies that the soldier has been dehumanised and is a clock hand that goes on and on endlessly. The rhetorical question indicates that the soldier has stopped to think and doubt what he has become.
• "Like a man who has jumped in the dark and runs"

  Similie - lack of understanding when a person is running in the dark, not knowing where they're actually going or what's actually happening
• "Threw up a yellow hare /

  and crawled in a threshing circle"

  The hare could be a metaphor for the soldier as it has been caught up in the conflict, like the soldier, where the 'circle' is a metaphor for war, suggesting that there is no start or end to it.

  The hare is continuously running, like the soldier, just because it wants to survive. Hughes uses the hare as a symbol of the soldier's collective suffering, the sense of panic & fear.

  The colour yellow is also associated with cowardice and Hughes does this to show symbolism for the soldier's emotions.
• "His terror's touchy dynamite"

  The soldier seems to have become a weapon rather than a human being. He's driven purely by his terror.

  Metaphor - his fear being like explosive dynamite

  Hughes uses this to show the reality of war and how power can easily overpower the human mind
• Key themes of Bayonet Charge

  • Power of fear
  • Human vs nature
  • Responsibility/doubt
• Form & structure of Bayonet Charge

  No set rhyme schemes - emphasises the chaos and panic of the battlefield.

  While first and last stanzas are eight lines, the 2nd stanza seems unfinished and messy, at only 7 lines. This suggests how regularity and structure within the soldiers break down on the battlefield.

  Dramatic opening in a media res - shows the soldier's bewilderment when he is running towards the green hedge

  Third Person - Isolated soldier
• Context of Bayonet Charge

  Written to highlight the terrible effects of war and the reality of it where it can lead to dehumanisation - dropping all morals just to survive.

  He had to write it from someone else's perspective as he has never experienced being in a war before so he couldn't fully understand what it was like
• Perspective within Bayonet Charge

  The poem is written in the third person singular which gives a limited narrative perspective. This allows the reader to focus on the individual impact of war by showing the way war impacts a single individual. The reality of the war experience is horrific to the reader who finds it impossible to view war favourably.
• Isolated perspective within Bayonet Charge

  This third person singular perspective also emphasises the isolation felt by soldiers in war. As the protagonist is the only human in the poem, he is isolated from any source of help or comfort. This isolation helps to intensify the suffering of the speaker and focuses the audience on the impact that war has on them.
• Further information about the perspective within Bayonet Charge

  The poem is highly focused on one soldier's emotions which is ironic as soldiers were expected to show no emotion and also shows how the soldier referenced cannot share his feeling with his peers.

  Hughes depicts a soldier desensitised to the harshness of war, he appears immune to the death of other soldiers and it takes the suffering of nature to break his trance-like state
• Hughes employs a chaotic structure in his poem to mirror the chaos and panic of war.
• Enjambment within Bayonet Charge

  The whole of the first stanza is a single sentence. This matches the tense actions of the poem and maintains the momentum of a bayonet charge and helps the reader to emphathise with the panic and fear by the soldier.

  The enjambment helps to emphasise the importance of the rhetorical question it ends on - "was he the hand pointing that second?". Here, the reader is forced to question whether the soldier is at war by his own choice or is a mechanical cog in a constantly ticking clock.
• Caesura and Enjambment within Bayonet Charge

  Hughes' frequent use of enjambment and caesura makes the poem feel disjointed and confusing. The structure is consistent with his message that war cannot be understodo fully (ot os confusing to the reader - also to the soldier).
• Caesura within Bayonet Charge

  The fast pace created by the enjambment in the first stanza starkly constrasts with the second stanza. The pace of the second stanza is much slower as it's broken up with lots of caesura. Here the soldier stops to consider the philosophical meaning of war. The pace of the poem is paused, implying that time has stopped or the soldier is so overwhelmed that they are forced to pause and consider. This has the alternative effect of cuasing the listener to pause and consdier the reality of war.
• Repetition within Bayonet Charge

  Hughes repeats "raw" which stands out against the strength of his other vocabulary conveying the soldier's intense suffering. Repetition is also reminiscent of stuttering as if the soldier is experiencing a breakdown in rationality as a result of their anxiety and stress.
• Struggle through poem within Bayonet Charge

  The combined effect of free verse, enjambment, caesura and the rich but complex imagery Hughes uses is that it makes the poem difficult to read. The meaning and narrative is hidden under a plethora of literary techniques and structural devices that fragment the poem and confuse the listener. The listeners struggle to understand is representative of the struggle experienced by the soldier.
• The opening of Bayonet Charge

  The poem opens with "suddenly he awoke" which instantly lunges the reader into the action without any introduction. By opening in Medias Res (the midst of the plot) there is no warning of the fighting to come and the reader has no chance to prepare for it, this mirrors the shock soldiers would ahve felt going into battle.
• More about the opening of Bayonet Charge

  The reader is left feeling confused and a tense atmosphere is established. This reflects the confusion and panic soldiers would've felt in war which allows the reader to relate to their experiences, and therefore empathise with them. This empathy is essential if Hughes is to be able to portray the reality of war, as only someone who has experienced it can possibly understand it. Thus, he needs the readers to have essentially experienced war through his poetry, and the first step towards this is by inciting the emotions created by war.
• Use of metaphors within Bayonet Charge

  Hughes infuses the physical actions of the soldier with metaphorical meaning. During war, sleep is a time of safety and protection. The act of waking up involves waking up to danger and realising one's own mortality. The soldier may have literally "awoke[n]" in response to a threat but there's also a figurative side to him waking up in. Here, the soldier could have gained awareness of the reality of war.
• More about metaphors within Bayonet Charge

  It is possible that the events before this moment were comparable to sleeping and disconnected from actual fighting. Hughes suggests that this might be due to "patriotic tear[s]" that place soldiers under an illusion of the honour and pride in fighting, it is only when they arrive on the frontline that the effects of propaganda wear off and the true horror of war is realised. "was running" shows that he is no longer protected by the safety associated with sleep and the safety of denying war's reality for the favourable view presented in propaganda