Kamikaze

• What is Kamikaze about?

  • A daughter is reflecting on the life of, and her relationship with her father who was a Kamikaze pilot in the Second World War
  • Her father turned back & did not carry out his suicide mission
  • Upon returning he was shunned by & cut off from his community
  • He was shamed for cowardice & not dying in support of his country
• What is the contextual significance of Beatrice Garland?

  • British Poet
  • Thus, she was not writing based on her own experience
  • This is typical of her work, as it often involves immersing herself within someone else’s perspective
• What is the contextual significance of Japan?

  • Japan’s military attitudes were founded on codes of honour & self sacrifice
  • These stemmed from the tradition of the samurai warrior, making the sword a pertinent symbol within the poem
• What quote reflects patriotism, honour & shame?

  • “like a huge flag”
  • simile
  • describes the movement of fish
• How does “like a huge flag” reflect patriotism, honour & shame?

  • Allusion to the flag of Japan -> even nature is viewed through a patriotic lens
  • Patriotism defined their whole world view & society were marionettes of traditional socio-political beliefs
  • A marionette is a puppet on strings
• How does “like a huge flag” alternatively reflect patriotism, honour & shame?

  • Alternatively, the waving of a flag is reminiscent of an act of surrender
  • This dichotomy of meaning explores the pilot’s, internal divisions, as he is driven by apparent patriotism & a yearning to concede
  • Dichotomy meaning a division between two opposing things
• What quote reflects conflicted identities?

  “full of powerful incantations”
• How does “full of powerful incantations” reflect conflicted identities?

  • The poem’s soundscape is punctuated by fricative ‘f’ sounds
  • Possesses undertones of aggression
  • This aggression is conflicted, in one sense it explores the aggression that a soldier entering a war must exhibit, but alternatively could also be aggression towards his leaders who have been brainwashed into completing the suicide mission
• What are the two pieces of form in the poem?

  • Perspective shifts
  • Sestets
• Why has Garland used sestets?

  • The poem is divided into sestets (stanzas of 6 lines) which can be grouped in two
  • The first 5 describe the story of her father’s mission, it moves linearly & enjambment is common which creates a sense of speed & momentum
  • Yet, the final two stanzas explore his return, this compresses the years after his return to be far shorter than his flight that would’ve happened within minutes or hours
  • The seriousness of his decision within that one moment cut his life short
• What is the structural significance of the lack of rhyme scheme?

  • The absence of rhyme presents the poem in a prosaic manner (unpoetic it the way it was written)
  • This serves to mimic it being told orally as a story to the daughter’s children, it also strays from any romantic flourishes that could glorify the notion of war
  • It is told simplistically & factually to allow emotion to shine through & make shifts such as the change in perspective more apparent & unsettling
• Why has Garland used perspective shifts?

  • Kamikaze -> category of war poetry -> experience of left behind, people that didn’t fight
  • Although written from daughter’s perspective,  third-person narrative -> sense of detachment
  • mirrors both detachment daughter feels from father & detachment left behind feel from soldiers who experienced war first-hand
  • reader prompted to pity unexpectedly obscure narrative to describe  typical intimate relationship- negative effects of war endured socially, politically & emotionally for generations to come