Kamikaze Flashcards
Themes
Inner conflict
Pilot is torn between duty and the wish to live
The daughter by her duty and the desire to know her father
How is the conflict of the pilot played out in the poem
Through the imagery of nature and the ocean, life caught in a helpless loop
How does Garland change speaker (structure)
Poem changes to italic font during penultimate stanzas and a previous line to indicate speaker
Structure key points
Consistent structure uses quite regular syllable patterns drifting up and down in length to give the poem a tone of nostalgia but also the rhythm of the waves which represent a helplessness
The use of asides and calm rural language juxtaposes the setting of war, giving the poem a much more personal scope on a major event
Who wrote kamikaze
Beatrice Garland
Context of the poem
Written from both a narrator and the daughter of the pilot. Narrator explains event while the speaker gives a first person account on how her family excluded her father. The poet questions at the end which death would have been better, to die as a kamikaze pilot young or to grow old with a family who shut you out.
“Her father embarked at sunrise”
Imagery- Japan was also know as the land of the rising sun, linking the character to his culture and duty
“The turbulent inrush of breakers”
Represent dinner turmoil and conflict, questioning the strength to defy fate and the pressure on him to do his duty
“And sometimes, she said, he must have wondered which had been the better way to die”
Highlights conflict, emphasises that he died in the eyes of his family
There is a tone of regret and sympathy at his situation, he had no way out
“Till gradually we too learned”
Learned implies the behaviour is not natural and was forced upon her, that she now realises and regrets this
“And though he came back”
The use of a pronoun leaves him nameless as though ashamed or difficult to name him
Listing of fish in the fifth stanza
The listing of catch on the boat connotes childhood joys and innocence which are darkened by the events of the pilots life
The inclusion of the tuna and the metaphor forebodes the darker end to the poem
“To the shore, salt-sodden,”
Sibilants shows the ocean wave sounds
Symbolic of the tide, which like him, returns
“Strung out like bunting”
Simile emphasises the attractive temptation of the life below him
Contrasts with his ‘journey into history’
Symbolises his inner conflict
“Then the other (flag) in a figure of eight, the dark shoals of fishes flashing silver”
Symbolic figure of eight, the infinity symbol, repetitive cycle and feeling trapped by his destiny
The fish represent the aircraft, the “flash of silver” metaphor for their honour and glory
