Bayonet Charge

Who is "Bayonet Charge" written by?

Ted Hughes

What is the context of Bayonet Charge?

• Hughes was a famous war poet. He had a rural upbringing which is evident in his poetry which usually focuses on animals

• Poem is set in WW1 and it is a way for Hughes to make sense of the events he never saw but whose impacts were seen daily (his father served in WW1 and was left traumatised for life)

• Hughes wanted to highlight the brutality of trench warfare as a tribute to his father’s suffering as well as a way to memorialise war as a warning for future generations

What is the structure of Bayonet Charge?

• Enjambment - quickens the pace matches the tense action of the poem and helps the readers to empathise with the panic and fear felt by the soldier

• Caesura - reflects how the soldier stops to consider the philosophical meaning of war; also reflects how Hughes believed war was futile

• Combination of free verse, enjambment and caesura creates an irregular rhythm makes the poem hard to read and mirrors the soldiers struggling to run through the mud

• Hughes uses the pronoun “he” rather than naming the solider to keep him anonymous, suggesting that he is a universal figure who could represent any young soldier

What other poems can you compare “Bayonet Charge” to?

• Exposure + Remains + The Charge of the Light Brigade + War Photographer (Effects/Reality of conflict)

• The Prelude (Fear)

"Bullets smacking the belly out of the air"

• This metaphor creates a tense, violent atmosphere and also alludes to someone being winded and unable to breathe. Violent imagery and onomatopoeia describes the sound and impact of the shots; it brings the battlefield alive

• “smacking” is a child’s punishment. But ironically, what the soldiers are doing is anything but childlike

• Instead of the air being pushed out of his lungs or stomach (as happens when someone is winded), Hughes inverts what the reader might expect, so that the ‘belly’ is pushed ‘out of the air’. Fear, it seems, upturns everything

"The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye / Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest"

• The soldier's belief about patriotism has changed into fear and pain due to the horrendous reality of war - his heroic ideals have been replaced by painful reality. The soldier is driven forward by fear rather than any more noble motive

• Hughes uses a simile to show the effect that war can have on the individual. ‘Molten iron’ is extremely hot, it would burn and destroy a human. This suggests extreme pain of running and of grief. The narrator’s true emotions are impeding his ability to move quickly. The tear has literally fallen down to the chest as if his grief at his loss of patriotism has penetrated his heart; the former love of his country is converted to physical agony.

• ‘molten iron’ is malleable and can be shaped and changed. This links to the idea that the soldier changes throughout the poem. The malleable nature of iron could also refer to how the soldiers' minds and heart’s emotions were manipulated to become perfect warriors through the extensive use of propaganda, emotive language and bribery. This refers to the quote ‘in what cold clockwork’, the noun ‘clockwork’ suggesting that the soldiers had been dehumanised to the point that they became machinery, just another cog in the machine.

"In bewilderment then he almost stopped -”

The use of the hyphen creates a pause which coincides with the idea of the soldier about to stop. It could also be interpreted as he is physically disorientated by the gunfire. The hyphen pauses the action and focuses on the soldier questioning why he is here. Reflects Hughes’ belief of war being futile and that there is no rational reason for war

"King, honour, human dignity, etcetera / Dropped like luxuries”

• The soldier appears to have completely abandoned his previously upheld values and motivation to fight. These are the reasons that persuade people to go to war. Using “etcetera” suggests they’re not even worth listing, again reflecting Hughes’ belief that war is meaningless

• “Dropped like luxuries” - he’s been reduced to a basic level; he’s attacking out of desperation, not moral principle

"His terror's touchy dynamite"

• The soldier seems to have become a weapon rather than a human being (he has lost his humanity) - he is now “dynamite” himself and is driven purely by his terror. Alliteration alludes to the explosive nature of his fear and creates a phrase that sounds like a repeated punch as though the language itself is ready to attack

• The ’t’s could also symbolise the ticking time bomb of inevitable death