bayonet charge

• Brief Summary:

  • Hughes depicts a soldier charging into battle unprepared, clumsy, and confused
  • The soldier pauses to consider his role in war
  • A dying hare in front of him jolts him back to consciousness
  • He realizes the danger he is in and runs towards the battle in fear
• Context:

  • Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was a famous war poet who grew up in the post-war era in Yorkshire
  • Hughes studied mythology and anthropology, evident in his poetry focusing on animals
  • The poem "Bayonet Charge" is from the collection "The Hawk in the Rain" dedicated to his wife, Sylvia Plath
  • Hughes wrote in a post-war era influenced by WW1 and WW2, aiming to highlight the brutality of trench warfare
• Perspective:

  • The poem is written in the third person singular, giving a limited narrative perspective
  • Focuses on the individual impact of war on a single soldier
  • Emphasizes the isolation and suffering felt by soldiers in war
  • Soldiers are neglected by the nation they fought for and left to reintegrate into society
• Structure:

  • Chaotic structure mirrors the chaos and panic of war
  • Enjambment quickens the pace, maintaining the momentum of a bayonet charge
  • Caesura in the second stanza slows the pace, allowing for philosophical reflection on war
  • Repetition of "raw" conveys the soldier's suffering and anxiety
• Struggle through poem:

  • Free verse, enjambment, caesura, and complex imagery make the poem difficult to read
  • Represents the struggle experienced by the soldier in war
• The opening:

  • Opens in Medias Res, plunging the reader into the action without warning
  • Establishes a tense atmosphere reflecting the confusion and panic soldiers felt in war
• Language:

  • Use of metaphors infuses physical actions with metaphorical meaning
  • Soldiers wake up to danger and realize the reality of war
  • Lexis from the semantic field of body parts and violence dehumanizes the soldier
• Lexis Hughes combines lexis from the semantic field of body parts and violence with metaphors to dehumanise the soldier and blur the lines between human and weapon
• "Lugged" implies the soldier is physically unprepared for war

  "Smacking" conveys aggression and violence targeted at nature

  "Statuary" suggests the soldier is frozen in fear

  "Blending of body and weapon" symbolizes how humans are used as weapons in war
• The soldier's rifle is described as "numb as a smashed arm," highlighting the horror of war and soldiers becoming desensitised
• The air is personified with a "belly," indicating the confusion of war

  The soldier is a second hand in the "cold clockwork of the stars and the nations," portraying individuals as tools to be used
• Nature becomes a victim of war through personification, such as bullets "smacking the belly out of the air"

  The poem juxtaposes peaceful images with violence, like a "green hedge" transformed into a symbol of death in a bayonet charge
• Hughes uses asyndetic listing to show the soldier gaining honour from fighting for his king and country

  Values like "king, honour, human dignity" are dropped as human luxuries when faced with the reality of war
• The speaker's patriotic tear shows his initial sense of duty to protect his country

  The soldier's disillusionment is depicted through the simile "sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest," revealing the false nature of propaganda
• Hughes uses similes to portray the soldier as unprepared and uncomfortable in his role, like likening his rifle to a smashed arm

  The soldier's physical unsuitability for war is emphasized through the disconnect between him and his weapon
• Hughes projects the violence of war onto a hare, symbolizing soldiers' collective suffering

  The hare's suffering highlights the injustice of war, as innocent creatures become victims of conflict
• Comparisons with Owen's poetry show similarities in themes and structural techniques

  Both poets present the psychological impact of war on soldiers, despite having no firsthand experience of conflict
• Exposure and Remains also explore the psychological impact of war on soldiers, depicting fear and disillusionment

  Both poems question the true nature of war and the motivations behind fighting
• Bayonet Charge and Charge of the Light Brigade both criticize war leaders and the impact of propaganda on public perception

  Differences include the portrayal of soldier's honour and bravery, with Hughes challenging traditional views of war