Bayonet Charge ⭐

context

never saw 1st hand, studied mythology & anthropology = poem's fixation on hare & animal instinct

father 1 of 17 to survive Gallipoli campaign = traumatised for life, p to highlight brutality of trench warfare as tribute to father's suffering & memorialise war as warning for fut gens

structure

chaotic to mirror chaos & panic of war.

structure consistent w his message that war can't be fully understood

enjambment

stops reader from taking pause, quickens pace

1st stanza 1 sentence, mirrors tense action of moment & maintains momentum of a bayonet charge (helps reader empathise w the panic & fear felt & mentally relate).

'suddenly' - throws reader in, don't have a choice = how soliders don't. they're not the ones who want to fight, just used as pawns

helps to emphasise the rhetorical q ends on 'was he the hand pointing that second?' - reader forced to q whether the soldier at war by own choice/is a mechanical cog in a constantly ticking clock

caesura

juxta: 2nd stanza slows pace - broken up w lots of caesura: soldier stops consider philosophical meaning war & contemplating his purpose. pace of poem paused = time stopped/ soldier so overwhelmed as he deeply ponders on ... forced to pause & consider (listener to pause also) war should be told from individual persp not national

frequent enjambment & caesura = poem feels disjointed & confusing: meaning hidden under plethora of literary techs & structural devices that fragment the poem & confuse listener: their struggle to understand reps struggle of soldier

3rd person singular perspective (perspective of an outsider)

limited narrative - reader focus on individual impact of war: even though war may be beneficial nationally & serving in war seen honourable, p = does not excuse suffering it inflicts on individuals

emphasises isolation felt by soldiers in war, as protagonist only human in poem, he's isolated from any source of help/comfort - helps to intensify the suffering of speaker: despite fighting in an army a battle is ab self preservation & theyre ultimately on their own.

poem focused on emotions ironic as toxic masculinity - show no emotion expectation w his peers

H depicts soldier desensitised to harshness of war, appears immune to death of other soldiers, takes suffering of nature to break trance-like state - shows how he no longer considers his fellow soliders as products of the natural world, they've been turned into machines

opening Media Res 'suddenly he awoke'

lunges reader into action

no warning of fight to come & reader no chance to prep for it - mirrors shock soldier's going into battle

starts at unconventional place in narrative = r left feeling confused & tense atmosphere established = confusion & panic soldiers - r to relate & empathise. this empathy essential if H to be able to portray reality of war as onlysomeone who has experienced it can possibly understand it (thus needs reader to experience war through his poetry - 1st step by inciting emotions created by war)

metaphor 'patriotic tear' (H infuses physical action of soldier w metaphorical meaning)

during war sleep = time of safety & protection, act of waking up involves waking up to danger & realising ones own mortality. soldiers may have literally 'awoke[n]' in response to threat but also gained awareness of reality of war

possible events before moment comparable to sleep & disconnected from actual fighting. H sugs this might be due to the 'patriotic tear[s]' that place soldiers under an illusion of the honour and pride in fighting, H attacks this facade, only when arrive on frontline effects of prop wear off & true horror of war released. patriotism reduced to fear & tears

'was running'' = no longer protected from safety of sleep & safety of denying war's reality for the favourable view presented in prop

simile 'Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest'

shows how came to war out of sense of duty, now this patriotism leaving him as sees what war rly like.

h shows sold realised prop was false through simile - shows how patri. previously held in his heart leaves from centre of chest.

sweating molten painful connotations - how soldier physically pained by realisation that his ideals been disproven. conns of burning - painful to be lied to

'his sweaty heavy' - shows how it's increasingly harder to fight once disillusioned & w/o patriotic movement

cold clockwork

Emphasises the soldier's insignificance and lack of control. 'cold' implies these 'nations' don't care about individual soldiers.

- war turns individuals into tools to be used.

- mechanical imagery is emphasised by harsh alliteration & implies soldier dehumanised in his role - he is disposable used by nations as weaponry

- harsh alliterative consonants conjures

sense of war being calculated & mechanical as if soldiers being used as tools rather than sentimental beings

-'nations' use soldiers as tools, bodies only cannon fodder, demonstrates meaningless waste of life

anthropomorphism 'yellow hare' screaming 'its mouth wide open silent' - hare perhaps mirror to his internal anguish in that moment

symbol of internal conflict of suffering, H projects violence of war onto innocent creature accidentally caught up

- choice of helpless animal incites sympathy, encouraging r to contemplate injustice of war & innocent individuals impacts.

personification of hare (eyes & screaming mouth) helps r associate hare's suffering w that of the human soldiers, reminding listener of danger speaker is in

'hare' victim by H w ‘mouth wide open silent’ human scream? hare’s suffering only explicit sign of violence, & the infliction of pain on an innocent animal =injustice of war, as organisms completely unconnected to conflict being harmed.

asyndetic listing 'king, honour, human dig etc' 'dropped like luxuries' - soldier can't afford them anymore, can only afford survival

p ends: Qing patriotism, fear overrides as soldier completely abandoned his previously upheld values & motivations to fight

H portrays soldier as unprep.ed for war & unsuitable for role" simile 'he lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm'

soldier seems disconnected from weapon, uncomfortable holding it - rifle 'numb' & cold = how unnatural soldier deems committing acts of violence