Kamikaze - Beatrice garland

• Context

  • British poet - not writing based on own experience - typical of her work as t often involves immersing herself in someone else’s perceptive
  • “Spent a lot of the day listening to other peoples words” - evident in “ a private life“ “a kosovan ghost story”
  • Japan entered WW2 in 194- - signed contract with Germany - surrendered after Nagasaki and Hiroshima
  • Military attitudes founded on codes of honour and self sacrafice - stemmed from samurai warriors making the sword a potent symbol within the poem
  • Social and Military codes were so deeply ingrained into society that they controlled people’s behaviour even towards loved ones
  • Kamikaze pilots were volunteers
  • By end of the war japanese did not have enough volunteers to embark on the kamikaze suicide mission - only motivation to carry out the mission is the threat of public shame upon return
• patriotism, honour and shame - title

  • kamikaze translates from Japanese as “divine wind” - originates from a storm that scattered an invading fear in 1250 - thus is a particularly historical reference and woven into the fabric of Japanese society - could be argued its outdated
• patriotism, honour and shame - “full of powerful incarnations”


  • patriotism is portrayed as an indoctrinating force
  • literal sense references the prayers and affirmations repeated in support of pilots
  • could suggest the pilot was under a spell
  • influence of propaganda is hypnotic and bewitching
  • soldiers were taught that self-sacrifice was the only means of victory
  • subtly hypocrites indoctrination
• patriotism, honour and shame - ”silver of whitebait”


  • imagery is an ecclesiastical allusion
  • Jesus was a symbol of sacrafice in response to Judas portraying him he was offered 30 pieces of ”silver” by romans to do so
  • Biblically “silver” is a symbol of this betrayals - betrayal of pilots by leaders
  • Perceptive that is foreign to her readership
  • Employs allusion that would be more familiar to British population to concept the overall notion of industrialised beliefs that conduct the way a person lives their lives
  • Notion of being betrayed by a ruler perpetuates within the phrase “dark prince” which synonymies nobility with corruption as ”dark” with connotations of evil and misconduct
• conflicting identities- “her father”


  • disparity between the pilots assigned role within the title “kamikaze” and “her father”
  • noun father imbues a sense of intimacy making it emotionally charged
  • garlands ability to see the person beneath the facade of a soldier
  • questions ethics of patriotism that disregards identity
  • communicates that military expectations corrupt familiar life and strip a poison of agency
  • even if he choses to abandon military convention to return to his family there is a sad irony they wont accept his cowardice
• conflicting identities - “full of powerful incarnations”


  • soundscape is punctuated by fricative “f”
  • undertones of conflicted aggression
  • explores aggression that a soldier entering war must exhibit
  • aggression towards leaders who have indoctrinated him to complete this suicide mission
• conflicting identities - “like a huge flag”


  • similar describes the movement of a fish dually
  • could be an allusion to the japanese flag
  • even nature is viewed through a patriotic lens
  • patriotism conducted their entire world view and society are marionettes of traditional socio-political beliefs
  • waving of the flag is reminiscent of an act of surrender
  • dichotomy of meaning explores pilots internal divisions
  • driven by overt patriotism and yearning to concede
• form - perspective shift

  • although its written from daughters perspective the third person narrative stabilises a sense of detachment
  • Mirrors detachment daughter feels from her father and the detachment those left behind feel from soldiers
  • Prompted to pity unexpectedly obscure narrative to describe what would conventionally be an intimate relationship.
  • Negative effects of war endured socially, politically and emotionally for generations.
• structure - enjambment

  → rife within the poem creates momentum and a sense of restlessness

  → mirrors pilot’s fragmented mind

  → Initially accelerates speed of the poem – pilot has to act quickly to avoid reflecting on thoughts of death – act in a robotic manner under mind control of the leaders

  → Disparity between rigid structure of regular stanzas and free-flowing enjambment

  → Emblematic of oppressive or oppressive military control in comparison to freedom of childhood
• structure - lack of rhyme scheme

  → Presents poem in a prosaic manner

  → Mimics it being told orally as a story to the daughters children

  → strays from any romantic flourishes that could glorify notion of war

  → Told simplistically and factually, emotion shines through on major shifts such as the change in perspective – more apparent, unsettling