Kamikaze

• Imagery, Japan was also known as the land of the rising sun, linking the character to his culture and duty
• Aside changes font to suggest the daughter, speaking to the children, emphasise individual/personal account of history, at odds with our views of these nameless pilots
• Listing creates a sense of intimacy with the pilot of simplicity which juxtaposes the metaphorical 'journey into history' of his flight
• Aside used to give a sense of individualism to this nameless pilot and relaxed tone to the piece, contrasts the conflict of the context
• Simile emphasises the attractive temptation of the life below him, contrasts with his 'journey into history', symbolises his inner conflict
• The fish represent the aircraft, the 'flash of silver' metaphor for their honour and glory
• Symbolic of death and remembrance
• Represents inner turmoil and conflict, questioning the strength to defy fate and the pressure on him to do his duty
• Sibilance shows the ocean wave sounds, symbolic of the tide, which like him, returns
• Listing of the catch on the boat connotes the childhood joys and innocence which are darkened by the events of the pilot's life, the inclusion of the tuna and the metaphor forebodes the darker end to the poem
• Pronoun leaves him nameless as though ashamed or difficult to name him
• Themes


  The poem explores the futility of trying to avoid one's own fate/destiny

  The conflict between the rules of society 'honour' in Japanese culture and the will to survive and return to a family

  The power of nature and its conflict with man
• The poem changes to italic/font during the penultimate stanzas and a previous line to indicate the change of speaker
• The final couplet hits home the themes of the poem dramatically in a sombre tone but does not offer opinion, challenging the reader to come to their own decision
• The consistent structure uses quite regular syllable patterns drifting up and down in length, giving the poem a tone of nostalgia and the rhythm of waves which can represent helplessness
• The use of asides and calm rural language juxtaposes the setting of war, giving the poem a much more personal scope on a major event
• The pilot's fate is linked with the fish

  Eventually, they will be caught
• The pilot in the poem returns home and is rejected by his family forever after, his own wife refusing to speak to him
• The poet questions at the end which death would have been better, to die as a kamikaze pilot young or to grow old with a family who shut you out
• Inner turmoil creates conflict in Kamikaze

  Idea of war and glory together with honour contrasting with the simple life on the ocean but which defies his duty
• Themes: Past/Identity


  Exploring memory or past aspect of the speaker, conflict between what is and what was or what could be, characters who cannot move on from their past or embrace their future