Telling Tales Themes and Quotes

Power in Identity

My Polish Teacher's Tie, Invisible Mass of the Back Row

Family and Relationships

Chemistry, Odour of Chrysanthemums, Korea, A Family Supper

Appearance vs Reality

Chemistry, The Darkness Out There

Naivety

Chemistry, The Darkness Out There

Power of Memory

Chemistry, My Polish Teacher's Tie, Korea

Traditionalism vs Modernism

Korea, A Family Supper

Dealing with Change

Chemistry, Korea, A Family Supper

Loss of Innocence

Korea, The Darkness Out There

"She walked through flowers, the girl... polleny summer grass that glinted in The sun"

The Darkness Out There

-sets beginning scene

-shows beginning naivety/innocence

-reflects Sandra's character

"The walls were cluttered with old calendars and pictures torn from magazines: there was a smell of old cabbage"

"Stumps of spent vegetables and a matted flower bed and a square of shaggy grass"

The Darkness Out There

-innocent old lady

-creates more of a shock/impact

-appearance v. reality

-unkempt garden adds to stereotype, makes Mrs Rutter seem lonely and isolated

"Dot held the lantern up so we could see"

The Darkness Out There

-the lantern highlights time period

-lantern contrasts darkness

-the more light, the more you see the darkness

"we cheered, I can tell you"

"Then we went back to the cottage"

The Darkness Out There

-human cruelty can be seen in anyone, contrasting to sweet old lady stereotype

-vengeful, satisfaction in others pain

-conjunction 'then' --continues with story, as if it were ordinary--going into comfort/warmth after seeing a dying soldier and leaving him to die--selfish cruelty--inhumane

-war warps human morals and principles

-'cheered', as if war is just a game with 2 opposing teams, gambling on ives

"Not that we were laughing at the time...rain teeming down, raw November night and that sight under our noses"

The Darkness Out There

-Mrs Rutter is more stressed about weather than dying man

-refers to trapped dying man as 'that sight'--nonchalant, not caring at all, cruel/psychopathic

-plane crash nothing more than a part of setting

-appearance v. reality

"One moment you were walking in long grass with the sun in your hair and birds singing and the next you glimpsed darkness"

"Flowers sparkle and birds sing, but everything is not as it appears, oh no"

"you can get people all wrong, she realised with alarm"

The Darkness Out There

-reflects themes and characters

-shows world from Sandra's viewpoint

-world--unreliable, dark, ever-changing

-fairy tale/princess description contrasts with next phrase, no 'happily ever after' that fairy tales are famous for

-realisation, maturity

"you're in lovely shape...take care to stay that way"

"his anger eclipsed his acne"

The Darkness Out There

-strong emphasis on physical appearances, portrays what Mrs Rutter deems important, contrasts with what Sandra sees about Kerry

-message--appearances don't display who you are inside, appearance v. reality

-appearance--fake, like sweet old lady stereotype

-appearance fade over time, memories and tragedies (husband and dying soldier) remain forever

-illogical priorities, temporary, shell for who you are

"It was chrysanthemums when I married him, and chrysanthemums when you were born, and the first time they ever brought him home drunk, he'd got brown chrysanthemums in his button-hole."

Odour of Chrysanthemums

-Elizabeth's response to her daughter's love of the flowers' smell reflects her growing disenchantment with marriage.

-the flowers go from being a symbol of their union to a drunken pledge, and their smell is ruined for her, although she has picked some and stuck them in her waistband.

-this could foreshadow Walter's death since she chooses to place the flowers where they lay the body out for viewing.

"There was a cold, deathly smell of chrysanthemums in the room."

Odour of Chrysanthemums

-synaesthesia

-smell of flowers usually links to happiness, romance

-death--Walter's death/death of marriage

-cold+death--'ice in womb'--Elizabeth fears arrival of baby without income, from father

-suggests their relationship was dead for a while, 'cold'

-no income--death, no food/cold--no wood for fire

"I was wondering if Master was at home"

Odour of Chrysanthemums

-capital letter shows superiority

-'Master' implies that Elizabeth serves him, social hierarchy

-lack of pronoun--definitive--only one

"her heart burst with anger at their father"

Odour of Chrysanthemums

-'their' father, not her husband, suggests the lost love between them, how their only connection is the kids

-anger--personified, heart--love, mixture of anger and love builds up pressure so it 'bursts'

"''sphyxiated' the doctor said"

"Elizabeth's heart halted...then surged on... almost suffocating her"

Odour of Chrysanthemums

-both physical and emotional suffocation as a miner (being trapped) and a woman (being 'trapped' by man)

-irony--Walter was dedicated to mining to avoid suffocation of home, but mining is what ended up suffocating him

-Elizabeth was foreign, mining village was suffocating

-no income, pressure, suffocating

"as soon as she could... she went and picked up the broken vase, and the flowers"

Odour of Chrysanthemums

-very keen on housekeeping, no evidence of strain of husband's death

-trying to salvage marriage

-left to pick up pieces both physically and emotionally

-vase--money, finance was holding relationship(flowers) together

-flowers are tainted, on the floor, but unbroken, relationship a constant scourge on her life

"I wear a uniform"

My Polish Teacher's Tie

-inferiorises in comparison to teachers, restricts

-being belittled, imprisoned, like student or prisoner

-starts off with phrase, Carla feels like the uniform defines her, before her identity

-symbolises she is part of a community

"...as if it might be a trick question"

My Polish Teacher's Tie

-simile

-shock at her asking something so ordinary

-headmaster sees her as a joke, in background, doesn't believe she deserves same status as all the others

"real professional"

My Polish Teacher's Tie

-aside

-Carla admires the teachers, even though they have no respect for her

-insecure, feels she lacks value

-doesn't feel 'real'--as if she is only in background

-contrast between the 2 professions

-may be jealous

"'and his ties' went on Valerie"

My Polish Teacher's Tie

-strong emphasis on an article of clothing highlights the suffocation of social rules in regards to everything in one's life, even how they dress

-both Steve and Carla stand out socially and physically (bland uniform and bright tie) although they are dressed radically different--social rules

-Steve is ostracised for accent and clothing, unfair and unjust viewpoint because of who he is

"Fugu is a fish caught off the Pacific shores of Japan."

A Family Supper

-the opening of the story--short paragraph on the fugu--highlights importance, significance in story and to son (who is nameless)

-background information, useful, slightly cold

-scientific, proves that story is not written with many feelings and emotions, merely a documentation of what happened

-easy suicide--did mother die by mistake?

"My father was a formidable-looking man with a large stony jaw and furious black eyebrows."

"Polite comment"

"Did not speak"

A Family Supper

-metaphor, personification, excessive use of adj.

-'stony jaw', stiff from lack of use, doesn't talk/appreciate talking, it is a way of expressing emotions, deems it to be too feminine, weak: "chattering like an old woman"

-intimidating, but polite, cold, no lost love

"'I've come to believe now that there were no evil intentions in your mind,' my father continued. 'You were swayed by certain - influences. Like so many others.' 'Perhaps we should forget it, as you suggest.'"

A Family Supper

-always inclined to believe the worst, no paternal love

-tactless, complete disregard

-hyphen, pause, searching for right word, or euphemism, to lighten what he is saying, pause--dramatic, a little fake, shows he doesn't truly believe it

-compares him to others, no emotion, nothing to separate from the others

-'Perhaps', tentative language, makes him seem inferior, trying to lower himself as to raise his father

-'as you suggest' presents his own ideas as his father's

'Very good,' I said. 'What is it?'

'Just fish.'

'It's very good.'

A Family Supper

-withholding info

-short sentences, highlights awkwardness and lack of emotion

-links to--"A man of principle and honour"--Watanabe, father's old partner, killed himself and family so he wouldn't live with disgrace, fugu fish--easy death

"'Things will improve then.'

'Yes, I'm sure they will.'

We fell silent once more, waiting for Kikuko to bring the tea."

A Family Supper

-cliffhanger--what happens next? Was it actually fugu?

-definitive: 'things WILL improve then', as if he has done something to ensure this--fugu?

-son agreeing with everything father says, displays dominance, intimidating

-more silence, could figuratively be silence of death

-'waiting'--the reader will never know whether Kikuko actually brought the tea or not

-father questioning son about the future,as if there is never going to be one

-last few lines sounds almost familial, caring, joining together before they die

"'We'd manage that. We'd scrape it together somehow.'

'Why should you scrape for me to go to America if I can get a job here?'

'I feel I'd be giving you a chance I never got. I fought for this country. And now they want to take away even the licence to fish. Will you think about it anyhow?'"

"He'd scrape the fare, I'd be conscripted there, each month he'd get so many dollars while I served, and he'd get ten thousand if I was killed."

Korea

-tricking son by faking extreme care

-desperation for money

-father uses his own experiences to convince his son to go

-doesn't seem to care if he dies

-deep betrayal, risking his son's life for 'so many dollars'

-'will you think about it anyhow?'--not much of a choice,wants money more than to give his son a choice/freedom

'Have you decided to take the chance, then?'

'No. I'm not going.'

Korea

-father uses exciting positive vocab--'take the chance'-- trying to convince son, almost brain washing him, like dying is an adventure

-definite, short sentences: no room for arguments. Father's betrayal cut deep, giving him strength to disobey him

-contrasts to son's reaction first time he was asked

-no emotion or apologies, hurt

"Each move he made I watched as closely as if I too had to prepare myself to murder."

Korea

-simile

-'murder'-links with death, war

-conclusion: even with betrayal, son still imitates and watches what his father does

-slightly intimidating; never wavering staring

-murder of who? The fish, son or father?

-'as if I too'-the son implies that his father is about to commit murder, could be reference to betrayal where father risked his son's life for money

-killing fish--money

-killing son--money

-no difference between son and fish, slightly disturbing

"Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,"

Ozymandias

-'shattered visage lies'--unrecognizable, no purpose, double meaning of the word 'lies': lies--laying down in the sand/lies--personification-- Ozymandias is lying of his eternal greatness, but the face of his 'lies' is shattered, proves that it was nothing but a 'visage', face/mask, that is now 'shattered'

-'cold command';'sneer'--synaesthesia--Ozymandias's character is presented as arrogant and proud, ironic; there is nothing left

-'wrinkled'--links to semantic field of time and eternity

"Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Ozymandias

-double pair of alliteration:boundless/bare, lone/level, emphasis on the emptiness and vastness of the desert

-'that'--no name for the statue, highlights insignificance

-'colossal wreck' contrasts with 'my works', 'works'--art, craft, mastery, 'colossal wreck'--big fat mess

-the 'colossal wreck' is juxtaposed with 'boundless and bare'. The statue is bound by the frame of time, whereas the desert is 'boundless', beyond the frame of time, makes human lives and accomplishments almost scarcely memorable in comparison to everlasting nature

-last line--nature always will outlive pride and ambition of man

Ozymandias

Percy Bysshe Shelley

-The poem is an ironic memorial to the ego of a ancient Pharaoh

-The statue is an allegory for the eventual end of power; everyone must suffer, especially the proud

-Power, like the statue, is lost to the sands which in turn represent time and nature

Written in a sonnet with loose iambic pentameter. Sonnets--generally popular romantic or love poems, perhaps this being a love poem about Ozymandias, a joke about the rulers ego. captures the romantic and exotic tone of a lost legend. The rhyme scheme is irregular, like broken statue, no longer perfect.

"I wander through each chartered street

Near where the chartered Thames does flow,

And mark in every face I meet

Marks of weakness, marks of woe."

London

-repetition of 'chartered'; 'chartered'--something listed/ regulated, the streets are clearly controlled but it suggests the Thames, the river, likewise is controlled--nature controlled by man.

-Blake is suggesting that everyone is without power and in misery--'mark': metaphor for brand, as if these people don't like looking tired, but are branded with this look to show their place in society. 'mark in every face', documents, the narrator is clearly disturbed by this and evidently doesn't agree with social standing

-alliteration 'weakness','woe', emphasis on the sadness and pain they are all going through

"How the Chimney-sweepers cry

Every black'ning Church appalls,"

London

-The juxtaposition of cries of children sweeping chimneys from rooftops, and church bells which ring out is 'striking' them

-Blake saw religion as a tool to keep the people down and therefore was wrong: 'black'ning'--contrasts the cries of the innocent dirty (physically blackened, emotionally pure) children with the supposedly clean but corrupt (physically white, hypothetically blackened) church.

-'every'--church is seen as a sanctuary, home, but 'every' church is 'black'ning', no sanctuary, home for children

-poor children vs rich church

-innocent vs corrupt

-children==epitome, vision of innocence, to blacken them destroying innocence, religion

-Blake believes in true innocence of people, not fake innocence as church

"And the hapless soldiers sigh

Runs in blood down palace walls"

London

-symbolic metaphor emphasizes the sacrifices the soldiers make for those in the palace

-social standing-those born in the palace have the 'right' to be protected by those more unfortunate than them

-the people in the palace don't even see it, it all happens outside

-'walls'--protection--people outside are left to starve and die whereas the rich people sit inside in all their glamour

-extreme contrast between lower and higher class

-no sense of charity, only fending for oneself; animalistic trait

'And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.'

London

-metaphor 'blights' links with 'plague' to create an atmosphere of illness and pain--in Victorian/Georgian England,death rates from disease and malnutrition were high, emphasis

-juxtaposed marriage and death; marriage symbolizes new beginning, death symbolizes the end. Merging the two portrays how the lines between life and death have been blurred to the point where one living on their wedding day isn't that different from the dead. Marriage is a symbol of unity, death symbolizes loneliness, emphasis that even alive you are all alone, no one to depend on, lack of trust--can also mean destruction of all things good, that even on a wedding there is a 'hearse'--''til death do us part', but they are already dead, shows the falseness in the wedding, false happiness + false vows

London

William Blake

-The poem is ironic--misery in the greatest city in the world.

-Blake's views are revolutionary for the time, challenging the idea that man is worth more than slavery.

-Blake challenges the establishment in their 'palaces' and 'churches' which are marked by the blood and blackening of good people.

Written in four stanzas with an regular alternate scheme. This reflects the regular walking pace of the narrator. The last line in each stanza delivers a powerful statement which sums up the rest of the stanza. Stanza 1 focuses on misery, Stanza 2 on peoples refusal to stand tall, Stanza 3 about the way people are sacrificed for the rich and powerful, Stanza 4 how all this poverty is corrupting everything good about family and life.

"Small circles glittering idly in the moon,

Until they melted all into one track

Of sparkling light."

"...far above

Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky..

She was an elfin pinnace"

"lustily"

"Went heaving through the water like a swan"

(Extract from) The Prelude

-semantic field of beauty, shows nature as something gentle, loving, graceful

-metaphor-'elfin pinnace'--fairy boat--elves were seen as lustful, graceful creatures. The narrator rows his boat 'lustily', passionately, symbolizes his uncontrollable love and desire for the grace and beauty of nature

-'glittering idly'--almost lazy, calm, tranquil, soft description 'like a swan', almost effortlessly beautiful and graceful

-'moon'--nature, new beginning, beauty, grace, clarity

-even greater contrast to the mountains that will come

"When, from behind that craggy steep till then

The horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge,

As if with voluntary power instinct,

Upreared its head"

(Extract from) The Prelude

-repetition of 'huge'--emphasizes size--panicking, running out of words, contrasts with "Was nothing but the stars", indicates strength, narrator writes as if telling a story

-'when'--turning point

-zoomorphism--'power instinct','upreared its head'--the animalistic attribute of instinct implies that the power of nature is almost out of control of nature itself, as instinct is almost unrestrainable even to animals, emphasizes power.'Upreared'--animals uprear their heads to threaten or intimidate unfamiliar beings, shows that narrator is feeling threatened

-'voluntary'--although the mountain is largely being controlled by instincts, it also 'upreared its head' using 'voluntary' instinct, highlights that not only is it forced to, but it wants to.

"There hung a darkness, call it solitude

Or blank desertion."

(Extract from) The Prelude

-personification 'hung'

-The darkness hanging over him represents his change to a darker mood at the end of the journey. The words all carry a dark and sinister tone, morbid and melancholy.

-He is reflecting on the conflict in his mind of the juxtaposed peaceful side of nature and the harsh extremes it also contains.

-He is still in shock, and is now left feeling empty, almost as if he was traumatized

(Extract from) The Prelude

William Wordsworth

-The poem symbolically uses the journey on the river to mirror the poets own spiritual journey of reflection.

-The poet is structured to show the contrast of the serene and peaceful start where we work with nature, to the dark and disturbing battle where nature shows us who is in control

-The conflict between man and nature is caused by mans attempt to manipulate nature, nature still contains a power and majesty beyond mankind's ability to command.

This section is 44 lines in blank verse (no real structure).

The poem changes from using euphony (pleasant sounding words) to using cacophony (harsh and rough sounding words.)

"That's my last Duchess painted on the wall"

"But to myself they turned (since none puts by

The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)

And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst"

My Last Duchess

-'my'--possessive, inferiorizing his dead wife, no tact/ regard, objectifying her, almost as if all she ever was was a painting in his display for his own use and pleasure

-he is showing his power in the brackets by suggesting that he is giving the listener a rare privilege to see the Duchess, exercising his control--irony--he needs to show off.

-'if they durst'(dare)--he is showing off his power again and how others fear him

-he is presented as a proud, arrogant, possessive man

"Half-flush that dies along her throat"

"A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad,

Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er

She looked on"

"She thanked men—good! but thanked

Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked

My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name

With anybody's gift"

My Last Duchess

-sinister tone--'dies along her throat'--words are also semantically linked to murder: 'die', 'throat'

-he is trying to be polite, using a rhetorical question to indicate a lighter tone to the conversation, in fact he is trying to avoid showing his jealousy and rage, at conflict with himself

-he is angry that she would find the same level of joy in the expensive gifts he bought her and the cheap or simple gifts of the poor or nature. Angry at his lack of control. He juxtaposes the two things though the irony is that his are without sincerity, whereas others may be with it. Exclamation and change of structure, the verse is broken with caesuras--rising anger--losing control, angry

-ironically mocking how vain the Duke is, he cares more about his heritage than her freedom or life

-'with anybody's gift'--believes of himself to be above others, selfish and arrogant

"...This grew; I gave commands;

Then all smiles stopped together"

My Last Duchess

-semicolons gives a sense of finality to the statements. It is suggesting she was killed on his request--his way of culminating the conflict in the relationship. Euphemism to suggest the fact she was killed.

My Last Duchess

Robert Browning

-The poem is a dramatic monologue with the Duke of Ferrara getting swept up talking about his former wife.

-The change in tone is used to show the sinister undertones and power struggle in the relationship, that even with her dead,he is the only one truly at conflict here.

-The poet ironically shows that his man is rich and educated yet a fool in matters of love and honesty, both powerful and weak

The poem uses rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter this reflects the style of romantic poets at the time, despite how this poem is much more sinister and dark. It is another facade for the Duke of Ferrara's character, controlling as he is the only one talking

"Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient...

Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,"

"Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence."

Exposure

-sibilance--wind, both lonely and biting.

-confusion atmosphere, lights all blend so that memories seem all muddled

-excessive use of adjectives:he's confused and conflicted, can't get his words straight, doesn't seem to find the right word to explain what they are going through, traumatized, talking a lot, bad mental state

-extreme stress on noise--'worried by silence, sentries whisper'--as there are many soldiers, there should be lots of noise but they are all terrified and waiting for something to happen, lack of noise almost unnatural, loudest is a whisper. The breaking of silence by bullets is a shock, harsh assonance and consonance sounds link weather with gunfire and therefore conflict and pain--the only break from the silence is through more war

"With crusted dark-red jewels;"

"All their eyes are ice,"

Exposure

-metaphor for blood, Owen believes that all of the soldiers lives are precious and are therefore wasted, the shine of the blood reflects shine of jewels, rich with blood, 'dark-red'-almost a childlike way of describing the colour of blood, implies that now that they are dead they possess a childlike innocence

-metaphor for ice, illustrates coldness of death, but also the importance and value of life (link to 'jewels). Could literally be ice, as their eyes could have frozen due to the weather, metaphor links with nature, implies that it wasn't the war that killed them, but nature. Eyes are sometimes seen as windows to the soul, suggests soul is frozen (physically and emotionally) or it is missing and all that is left is ice to take its place

"For love of God seems dying."

"But nothing happens."

Exposure

-personified emotion--'love' as 'dying' could mean that life is so hard that their belief in God is fading, but it could also mean that they feel that God's love for them is dying. God--eternity, ever-powerful, contrasts with love of God 'dying', in the trenches everything is leaving them but pain and winds. Tentative language 'seems' portrays how they hope they are wrong, how much they want to love God/God to love them, but reality contradicts and makes it so hard for them to believe, can also mean that they are almost blinded with this experience that they can't even tell that their love is diminishing before its too late

-repetition final line emphasizes the process doesn't end, the soldiers are frozen in time and hell--short sentence highlights the simplicity of the line, without double-meanings or interpretations; nothing happens. The waiting is killing them almost as much as the bullets.

Exposure

Wilfred Owen

-The poem defies the convention of war and looks at the weather assaulting the soldiers, not another army. This is to highlight the unknown horrors of war to people at home.

-The poet uses repetition and a consistent structure to create the static tone of the poem. The lack of change adds to the tone of despair.

-The alliteration is used to create a sense of atmosphere to the weather and to draw parallels to the violence of war and weather.

The poem uses a large amount of ellipses, caesuras repetition, onomatopoeia and alliteration to create an on-going sense of waiting and boredom. The poem is made of eight stanzas with a consistent use of a half line to end. This reinforces the sense of stasis or sameness throughout the poem that nothing is happening. There is use of para-rhyme showing words which appear to rhyme yet sound wrong when read to create the sense of unsettledness in the poem the soldiers are feeling.

POWER AND CONFLICT

TELLING TALES

MACBETH

"Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them"

"Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred."

Charge Of The Light Brigade

-repetition of 'cannon' emphasizes that they are completely surrounded, imitates the repeated shooting of the cannons, implies that they believe the situation is hopeless. Using a different line for each direction highlights the huge amount cannons aimed at them

-valley of Death is a biblical allusion to show the horror of what they now face, connotation of hell.

-repetition to build the tension and drag out the charge, emphasizes the honour they deserve

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Alfred Lord Tennyson

-the repetition within the poem helps capture the galloping military rhythm. This indicates the conflict and power building through the poem itself.

-the poet is clearly distinguishing between the bravery of the men and the foolish 'blunder' of the orders and suggests the six hundred should be seen as heroes.

-the military language is mixed with religious allusion to suggest an epic scale, emphasising the risk and bravery

The poem is divided into 6 stanzas and uses a lot of repetition. Some of this is to show the different stages of the battle but also give it a structure. It has a very military rhyme and can be similar to the sound of marching drums of horse hooves. This is used to reflect the military nature of the conflict in the poem.

"On another occasion, we got sent out

to tackle looters raiding a bank.

And one of them legs it up the road,

probably armed, possibly not."

Remains

-anecdotal language, matter of fact tone, suggests this is one of many events.

-colloquialism, slang 'legs it'--run off. Used to give realistic tone to the voice of the speaker.

-'probably armed, possibly not'--tentative language, repetition, signifies the immense guilt, how he now pays attention to trivial details that plague him all the time now

"so all three of us open fire.

Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear"

Remains

-analogy, soldiers described as cards in Poker, a game of luck--emphasises that everything about this was just chance, poker is a game where you wear a mask, pretend you are okay when your not--also avoids being the only guilty one here, trying to include others so that the guilt won't be to bad

"but near to the knuckle, here and now,

his bloody life in my bloody hands."

Remains

-pun, bitter/dark humour bloody meaning covered in blood but also an expression of anger/hate--soldier is at conflict with this dead man, but more with his own mind

-ends the poem with a sense of despair and open ended; no resolution

-informal language emphasises how the dead man is there, all the time, even in every-day life,

-bloody hands, reference to Lady Macbeth--she was eaten away by guilt, went crazy even though she encouraged Macbeth, PTSD

Remains

Simon Armitage

-the poem explores the events in a soldiers life which in turn trigger PTSD, memory hurts him more than the event itself

-the colloquial nature of the speakers voice is used to create a sense of heightened realism to the piece

-the poet suggests a conflict in the speakers mind, an avoidance of the reality of what happened which haunts him

-there is a loose set of rhymes in the poem, often internal and used to give an almost childish aspect to the horror of war, suggests how numb this soldier is to what is happening