Kamikaze

• Kamikaze

  • implies sudden violence
  • an attack where people are willing to take risks and sacrifice their own safety
• kamikaze

  • meaning “divine wind”
  • relates to the Japanese suicide pilots
• “her father embarked at sunrise”

  • narrative poem
  • patriotic imagery - Japan is known as the country of the rising sun
• “sunrise”

  • pathetic fallacy
  • represents the beginning to the sea and marine imagery which represents the soldiers childhood at home
  • nature as a living memory
• “her father”

  Humanises him and shows he has a life outside of his mission and matters to people
• “green-blue translucent sea”

  • colour connotation
  • represents the earth which is home
• “shoals of fishes” “flashing silver” ”swivelled towards the sun”

  • sibilance - sense of grace and peacefulness
  • sensory imagery - excessive amount of “s” and “f” sounds
  • waves calling pilot home
• “embark”

  • beginning a new life through rejecting his role as a kamikaze pilot
• structure and form

  • stanza length - 6 lines
  • represent order and obedience of a soldier
• he has started to doubt his obedience and relaised he wants to pursue the freedom and beauty of like unrestrained
• reflects conflict between military conflict and cultural pride, desire for life and freedom
• patriotism within nature

  • ”like a huge flag” (simile)
  • father and family are indoctrinated by japanese culture and societal norms
• “salt sodden” “crabs” “prawns”

  semantic field of ocean
• “cloud mark” “feathery”

  • angelic and heavenly connotations
• volta

  • changes to first person perspective
  • dramatic shift from external to internal, impact of war
• Last word creates sense of futility and inevitable fate reader reflects their own morality and life
• conflict and patriotism denies humanity the enjoyment of life and nature
• Shows how patriotism leaves to death not literally but metephorically
• detatched tone desire to detach herself from her father (?)
• Deeply existential focusing on futility of war
• Kamikaze


  A Japanese word which means 'divine wind'
• Kamikaze pilots were expected to fly their planes directly into enemy planes, ships and other military targets
• Kamikaze pilots were essentially suicide bombers
• This poem


  • It is a NARRATIVE poem where a daughter of a father who was a kamikaze pilot-who did not kill himself - tells his story to her children
• The pilot's return would have been considered a shameful act of disgrace
• Bushido


  The 'way of the warrior' - a main part of this code is that the warrior would rather die than face defeat
• By coming home safely and not killing himself, the pilot has gone against the Bushido causing his family to be ashamed of him
• Pathetic Fallacy

  • From the "sunrise" which represents the beginning, to the sea and marine imagery which represents the soldiers childhood home, nature as a living memory is a key theme of this poem
• Sensory imagery

  • There is an extensive use of 's' and 'f' sounds which represents the waves of the sea calling the pilot home
• Kamikaze pilot's promise to show their loyalty to Japan

  • A soldier must make loyalty his obligation
  • A soldier must make propriety (respectability) his way of life
  • A soldier must highly esteem military valour
  • A soldier must have a high regard to righteousness
  • A soldier must live a simple life
• Colour connotation

  The "green-blue" represents the earth which is home, the "silver" fish are also memories of his father who was a fisherman, the "grey" pebbles represent the soldier's happy family life
• The end of the poem is deeply existential where it is projected that the soldier reflects on honour and respect and whether life has any meaning if you are not respected by others