Kamikaze Analysis

• Kamikaze


  Japanese suicide pilots who flew manned suicide missions into military targets during WWII
• The poem Kamikaze explores a daughter's reflection on her connection and relationship to her father who was a Kamikaze pilot in WWII and decided not to complete his suicide mission
• The poem follows the daughter's train of thought as she thinks about the journey her father would have made to go on the mission


  1. Remembering the father setting off and the things he took

  2. Father looks at the sea and the village – boats and fish act as symbols

  3. Father remembers his childhood on the beach with his brothers (waiting for their father)

  4. Switch to daughter's perspective / narrative – interject that that is the children's grandfather

  5. Memories of the grandfather bringing home fish

  6. Switch to daughter's perspective

  7. Remembers her father returning and being rejected by the community

  8. Remembers being forced to reject him herself

  9. Leave with the question of whether he should have died
• Beatrice Garland


  • Includes John Donne, John Clare and Seamus Heaney as some of her writing inspirations, and has won prizes for her poetry. When writing the poem Kamikaze, she was inspired into looking into the motivations as to why people wanted to die for their country
• Kamikaze Pilots


  • During WWII, Japanese kamikaze pilots flew manned suicide missions into military targets (e.g. ships), using planes filled with explosives. Soldiers and pilots were taught it was the only way to change the direction of the war (Japan losing), and they had to take part in this last resort. Very well trained pilots would volunteer to die, but towards the end of the war the military would have to recruit people and shun those who refuse
• The collection "The Invention of Fireworks" (2014) which Kamikaze is from was shortlisted for the 2014 Forward Prizes for the Best First Collection


  • The poems explore life and death within the natural world. They also investigate how in the twentieth century, mankind becomes a threat not just to nature but to itself as well. It looks at human turbulence and how we should seek solace in the power of nature, as a reminder that an otherwise bleak life still possesses beauty
• Kamikaze


  • The poem is set against the backdrop of WWII and the extreme conflict which was taking place at the time. The war creates an ideal backdrop to explore other forms of conflict: the conflict between individuals in Japan and the societal expectations placed upon them, the conflict within families due to the pressure put on them by society and in the case of Kamikaze pilots, the military, and the conflict between nature and man
• Kamikaze


  • The poem explores the futility of avoiding a fate set out for you by an authority or government. In this case the kamikaze pilots' fate was formed in the military when they were instructed to go on suicide missions in the name of their country
• Kamikaze


  • The poem has a very intimate tone as the Garland works to contrast both the speaker and the daughter's voices, which sometimes merge into one. This ensures the readership are aware that it is a very personal story and narrative being imparted in the poem
• Her father embarked at sunrise


  With a flask of water, a samurai sword in the cockpit, a shaven head full of powerful incantations and enough fuel for a one-way journey into history
• Half way there, she thought, recounting it later to her children, he must have looked far down at the little fishing boats strung out like bunting on a green-blue translucent sea


  And beneath them, arcing in swathes like a huge flag waved first one way then the other in a figure of eight, the dark shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swivelled towards the sun
• He and his brothers waiting on the shore built cairns of pearl-grey pebbles to see whose withstood longest the turbulent inrush of breakers bringing their father's boat safe to the shore


  Salt-sodden, awash with cloud-marked mackerel, black crabs, feathery prawns, the loose silver of whitebait and once a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous
• And though he came back my mother never spoke again in his presence, nor did she meet his eyes


  And the neighbours too, they treated him as though he no longer existed, only we children still chattered and laughed
• Till gradually we too learned to be silent, to live as though he had never returned, that this was no longer the father we loved


  And sometimes, she said, he must have wondered which had been the better way to die
• The title "Kamikaze" refers to the Japanese suicide pilots who flew manned suicide missions into military targets during WWII
• The poem is written from a daughter's perspective in the third person


  • This narration creates a sense of distance and detachment, allowing the reader to see the events unfold without being too emotionally invested
• Emphasise its significance by using first punctuation in poem (first full stop)
• Signal it is deserving of notice
• By living he traded this for being forgotten and ignored


  Story is not told by historians but by a daughter who never knew him - the whole poem is speculative
• Suggests the father physically survives but dead to the community and society he returned to
• Perspective


  • Kamikaze shows the impact that war has on those left behind
  • The reader is viewing conflict through the eyes of someone left behind, someone trying to understand the motivations of their father, to understand what made him go to war and what made him come back from it
• Narration


  • The poem is written from a daughter's perspective in the third person
  • This narration creates a sense of detachment which reflects the distance the speaker feels from her father's life as she grew up not knowing him
• Shift in narration from third person to first person


  When the speaker discusses her father's return acts as the volta
• The final line returns to the third person: "he must have wondered which had been the better way to die"
• The detached tone from the beginning of the poem returns but this time to signify that she is detached from the culture which gave him the option of dying as a Kamikaze pilot
• Structure


  • The poem is structured into tightly controlled stanza lengths of 6 lines, which perhaps reflects the order and obedience expected of a soldier
  • This structure is juxtaposed and undermined by the free verse and enjambment
• Enjambment


  Sentence which runs over multiple lines
• The attempts of freedom within the confines of the strict stanza structure suggests her father had his own desires, roles and individuality within the constrictions put in place by the Japanese government
• The free verse and enjambment could also show that he is starting to doubt his obedience and realised he wants to pursue the freedom and beauty of life unrestrained
• This structural juxtaposition also could reflect the conflict between military commitment and cultural pride, and desire for life and freedom
• Last word


  Garland selects the word "die" as the last word of the poem, which creates a sense of futility and inevitable fate: the soldier was destined to die one way or another
• The reader is also forced to reflect on their own mortality and life which will end the same way as the soldiers
• In a more overarching societal application, the writer may be suggesting that conflict and patriotism denies humanity the enjoyment of life and nature
• Conflict vs Identity


  • Conflict between identities (such as father and soldier) is established in the first two lines of the poem
  • There is immediately a contrast between title "kamikaze" and "her father"
• Kamikaze


  Establishes his role as a soldier and Japanese suicide pilot
• Her father


  Humanises him and shows that he has a life outside of his mission and matters to people
• The contrast between being a kamikazee and father shows the reader the conflicting roles of the man; he can either live with his family or die for his country
• The sad irony that in choosing his family he is ultimately rejected by them (they "live as though he never returned")
• Patriotism


  • The patriotism of kamikaze pilots is enforced by the patriotic imagery which is littered throughout the poem
  • The speaker sees patriotism within nature, such as the fish which are "like a huge flag"
  • This identity as a patriotic soldier shifts to that of a father as he appreciates the beauty of nature and the beauty of life and decides to reject death
• Adjectives


  "cloud-marked" and "feathery" have angelic and heavenly connotations which suggest that whilst the father has rejected death, the concept of it is now present forever in the family's life