BAYONET CHARGE

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Created by
Dua. K

Cards (7)

  • ~BAYONET CHARGE~ (Ted Hughes)
    IDEASSSSS
    • War is dangerous, chaotic and violent
    • War is futile (waste of life)
  • FORM
    Hughes uses free verse to become unpredictable to reiterate how war is chaotic.
  • IMAGERY 1
    "Suddenly he awoke and was running "
    • "Suddenly"-> This is an urgent and immediate action to symbolise how the soldier was not aware of how chaotic war would be due to the propaganda used by the army.
    • "awoke"-> Metaphor to symbolise the soldier finally understanding what war is like. - The soldier is now knowledgeable to the true reality of the bloodshed, violence and brutality of war.
    • "running"-> We would typically expect a soldier to be brave however, his cowardice emphasises the severity of war as the soldier is traumatized.
  • IMAGERY 2
    "Bullets smacking the belly out of the air"
    "smacking"-> Violent action
    "the belly out of the air"-> The poet purposefully confuses the wording of this saying. -> The confusion acts as a tool to show us how soldiers are unable to think and function properly due to how chaotic and violent war is.
  • IMAGERY 3
    "King honour, human dignity etcetera/ dropped like luxuries"
    • "King honour, human dignity"-> The list represents the different reasons as to why someone signs up to the army (patriotism).
    • "etcetera"-> Summarising the reasons and making them seem mundane as we are not continuing with the list.
    • "luxuries"-> (commodity)not a necessity. -> the poet uses this simile to highlight how futile it would be to lose your life due to your patriotism.
  • LANGUAGE
    "Suddenly", "running", "bewilderment", "plunged", "dropped", "terror"
    -> Semantic field- showing the violence and chaos of war
    • "Terror"-> An intense and overwhelming fear.
    • "bewilderment"-> An intense and overwhelming confusion with everything happening around us.
  • STRUCTURE
    The poem begins with In media res.
    -> "Suddenly he awoke and was running"- As the readers we feel confused as we do not know why he is running. This enables us to feel the same confusion that the soldier feels as he no longer understands why he's there as he is not fuelled by his patriotism.