Bayonet Charge

• What is Bayonet Charge about?

  • Hughes presents a distressed soldier charging into battle, showing us his thoughts & feelings as he moves
  • Hughes explores the priorities of a soldier in the heat of the moment in war whilst also looking at the reasons people normally go to war
  • He incriminates the abuse of the soldiers & the lies they are told in order to wrongfully convince them to make the ultimate sacrifice
• What is the contextual significance of Hughes’ family?

  • Ted Hughes was not alive during WW1
  • However, his father fought in Gallipoli, a fact which may define his thoughts & feelings about war
• What is the contextual significance of Hughes’ poems?

  • Bayonet Charge was from a collection of poems called “The Hawk in the Rain”, dedicated to his wife Sylvia Plath
  • The anthology focuses mainly on animals & their behaviours
  • This focus on animalistic is seen with the poems focus on instinctual behaviours
• What quote reflects the reality of war?

  “cold clockwork”
• How does “cold clockwork” reflect reality of war?

  • Hughes uses harsh alliterative consonants in “cold clockwork” to re-emphasise the mechanical & emotionless nature of war
  • “Clockwork” also emphasises how war will keep going on regardless of what happens around, completely blind to the suffering of the humans that fight in it
• What quote reflects nature?

  • describes a hare as being in a “threshing circle”
  • the hare’s mouth as “wide open, silent”
• How is “threshing circle” & “wide open, silent” used to describe nature?

  • Hare -> soldier's suffering -> ruthlessness of war affects indiscriminately -> no winners in war
  • violence & graphic imagery -> hare's suffering -> “threshing circle” & mouth “wide open, silent”
  • agricultural imagery “threshing circle” -> soldiers harvested -> indiscriminately cut down & killed 
  • hare's “silence” -> soldiers unable to speak on their plight
  • hare's portrayal -> suffering dramatically -> war created soldier desensitised to human suffering -> suffering of innocent animal to break him out of trance
• What quote reflects the dehumanisation of soldiers?


  “suddenly he awoke and was running”
• How does “suddenly he awoke and was running” reflect the dehumanisation of soldiers?

  •  dehumanisation of the soldiers by showing the panic & terror going through a soldier’s mind
  • poem begins in media res with “suddenly he awoke and was running to show how soldier thrown into heat of battle -> suddenness of the beginning of the poem -> soldier feels he is thrown into life-threatening situation
  • Overall throughout Bayonet Charge soldier shown as a machine, full of fear and panic and shown overall to be a reluctant participant in the war machine
• Why does Hughes emphasise perspective?

  • Poem in third person singular -> focus on showing reader how war impacts person through perspective of person
  • By presenting war through the lens of a soldier -> impossible to view war approvingly -> soldier’s stark terror rubbed off on reader
  • singular perspective focuses on  isolation felt by soldiers, thrown into life or death situation with no means of hope or comfort -> ironic -> army of thousands everyone feels lonely
  • Written in third person singular form perhaps as he has no first hand experience of war
• Why does Hughes use a lack of rhyme scheme?

  •  clear lack of rhyme scheme in poem -> lines never bearing form of audible similarity to the ending of the line before them -> Hughes communicating to reader lack of regularity & order within soldier’s experience of war -> every new moment bringing another challenge & surprise
  • lack of rhyme also creates  atmosphere of discomfort & nerviness for audience who never able to settle into a rhythm & regularity, rather forced to listen to soldier’s pain w/ every line being something new
• What is the structural significance of enjambment?

  • entirety of first stanza -> one sentence -> maintains tempo of bayonet charge -> reader feels panic & terror of soldier
  • generous use of enjambment stops reader pausing to take a break -> creates atmosphere of breathlessness & chaos, once more not allowing the reader to get comfortable or settle into a rhythm whilst reading poem -> allows the reader to empathise with soldier
  • enjambment also means that many lines flow into the next unhindered, perhaps trying to mirror how the terrifying moments of war blend into one stream for the soldier
• What are the two pieces of form in the poem?

  • Perspective
  • Lack of rhyme scheme