War Photographer + Bayonet Charge

Comparison Theme

The impossibilities of presenting the true horrors of conflict.

W.P. STRUCTURE

- 4 stanzas, 6 lines per, ABBCDD rhyme scheme - 1. reflects photographers' job, impose order onto the chaos of war making it palatable to look at -- JUXTAPOSITION as suffering in war cannot be controlled + neatly ordered = structure contrasted + exaggerated by chaos of war

2. shows their efforts are futile - no matter how it's done, people can't understand the realities of war, everything carries os as normal (represented in unchanging structure till the end)

- Caesura: "Rural England. [...]" - 1. separated completely from descriptions of war zones just as people are completely removed form realities of war

2. "Belfast. Beruit. [...]" full stop represents the moment people stop to look at the photos then carry on with their normal lives\

- pararhyme mid line: "with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers" - quickens pace in final stanza = represent speed at which people forget about the images which tries to get the realities of war across to them

- Cyclical Structure - begins with photographer coming back from trip: "in his darkroom he is finally alone", ends with him flying back out: "From the aeroplane" - journeying to + from war zones =LINKS TO FATE -- inescapable loop = futility of the job. Predetermined to always try make impact so people realise true horrors of war BUT fate that people continue to sanitise + take as quick glimpse of sadness = futile endeavour

Bayonet STRUCTURE

- Enjambment - disjointed, unordered effect on reader = just as reader struggles to make sense of the chaos of disordered structure, the soldier is thrown into chaotic battle

- Caesura "was he the hand pointing that second? He was running [...]" - forces reader to stop mid line just as the soldier stops mid run, to question the reason for him being there

>>>COMBINED EFFECT of enjambment + caesura

- Repetition "raw" - 1. shows difficulty in expressing the moment = reflects shock the soldier ha, struggling to articulate the moment

2. Huges big fan of Owens - Owens' poem Spring Offensive, he write "lying easy, were at ease". Hughes' "raw, in raw-seemed hot khaki" = ALLUSION to Owner' poem. -- Hughes never experienced bayonet charge himself, the poem is about the inexplicable horrors of war, so Hughes forced to take from someone who has i.e. Owens

W.P. LANGUAGE

- symbolism: "darkroom" "light is red" = sinister connotations, CONTRAST "church" "priest" = 1. religious imagery, serious solemn role to his job - 2. backs up JUXTAPOSITION of structure vs reality - the evil of the world contrasted + exaggerated by the sanitised religious imagery

- "spools of suffering set out in ordered rows"- 1. adds to the extended juxtaposition, 2. image of war graves - tries to sanitise + structure the conflict + suffering

- "all flesh is grass" - allusions to Bible in Isiah- fragility of life, Christiana Rosetti poem title- life is fleeting -- people have been talking about the fragility of human life for 1000s of year and still are, why? = people unable to understand the horrific effects war has so people are still trying to explain it.

- "they do not care" - 1. they= the public looking at the pictures in newspapers, 2. they= wider world who is apathetic to others' suffering, 3. they= us as the reader - read quickly then move on + forget. -- "they" distances the photographer, he understands what war does but is separated by the fact he can't explain it to people who don't understand

Bayonet LANGUAGE

- 6 similes in the whole poem - simile used to make something understandable so stands to reason the thing being described is impossible to describe - overwhelming use in conjunction with other devices show the reality of war is impossible to explain

- "cold clockwork of the stars and nations"= government + astrology -- NEITHER IS INTERESTED in the war - especially phrase, "cold clockwork" suggests the soldier is simply a cog in the machine + no-one cares what happens to him.

- "King, honour, human dignity, etcetera" - tone of "etcetera" is mocking- criticises patriotic values - Hughes points values mean nothing to you when in battle -- (CONTEXT) devastation of people + area around Hughes, this line poses a challenge, a suggestion that noble virtues of patriotism are far from the realities of war

- "His terror's touchy dynamite" - brutal final line = despite objections, the soldier has become a killing machine - this metaphor sums up the dangerous he can inflict on others as conflict has made him be so

W.P. FORM

- 3rd person = further highlights the distance between the readers and the realities of war- can never be fully realised.