Themes:

Loss and absence

Memory

Identity

Individual experiences

power of nature

• power of nature results in the pilot turning around

  • why should he deprive himself and the others upon the ship he was supposed to attack of the pleasure of experiencing nature?

key quotes:

‘her father embarked at sunrise’

• Japan known as the land of the rising sun

• reflects the power of nature, and the direct conflict it has with man and military power.

‘a shaven head full of powerful incantations’

• the metaphor suggests that he has been brainwashed by the military.

‘enough fuel for a one way journey into history’

‘strung out like bunting’

‘like a huge flag’

• revisiting the flag imagery gives the impression that the pilot has been brainwashed, as he is seeing everything through a national lens

• the references to these reduce as the poem goes on, giving the impression that the pilot is becoming more and more convinced that he should turn back.

‘the dark shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swivelled towards the sun’

• sibilance- creates a sense of energy, the smooth sounds reflecting the natural wonder of the fish.

‘a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.’

• presented as the most powerful character in the poem- part of nature

• metaphor and adjectives- create a threatening, intense and powerful aura.

• end stopped line- signals to the reader that we have to stop and contemplate this- suggests that true power belongs to nature and that man’s efforts are futile.

‘they treated him as if he no longer existed’

‘till gradually, we too learned to be silent’

‘he must have wondered which had been the better way to die’

key ideas: national conflict of war leads to inner conflict of man

comparison:

Exposure- reality of conflict

• in both poems, war makes them question whether what they’re doing for the nation is truly worth it

• in exposure, the weather forces them to keep fighting, whereas in kamikaze the pilot returns home after realising the beauty of nature.

Checking out me history + London

• one group has significant control over a body of people

  • kamikaze- the Japanese military

  • Checking out me history- The British colony

  • London- the government

Kamikaze+ poppies

• both familial relationships with different perspectives.

  • lexical field of habidashery shows how closely the mother and son’s relationship was, and just how damaging the ripping away of his life was.

  • kamikaze the family learn to alienate and distance themselves

• poppies deals with a symbolic death, kamikaze deals with social death for not dying.

• both reflect on childhood memories

  • ‘playground voice’

  • ‘his brothers waiting on the shore built cairns of pearl-grey pebbles’

structure:

• uniform stanzas with 6 lines in each reflects the tight control the Japanese military had over society, and the expectations that came with it.

• this is contrasted with the use of free-verse and enjambment which reflects the freedom the pilot wants to have.

• overall represents the difference between his internal thoughts and sense of national duty.

  • the narrator’s perspective shifts throughout the poem

  • begins by talking about herself in the third person, emphasising the distance relationally between her and her father, doesn’t want to associate with him and the shame he brought upon their family.

  • poem switches to first person towards the end- the switch could show the conflict that the daughter feels, as she does not know whether she should have acted as a daughter, or acted as society normalised and urged her to act, alienating her from her own father.