Bayonet Charge Flashcards
(3 cards)
1
Q
Bayonet Charge — Context:
A
- Ted Hughes was born in 1930 in West Yorkshire and died in 1998.
•He was fascinated by WWI, partly for his admiration for poets like Wilfred Owen, partly the stories told by his father (who had survived his regiment’s massacre at Gallipoli).
- At the start of his writing career, he experimented with a lot of pseudo-war poetry, putting himself in the role of a WWI soldier. However, he later came to admit that it does not have the edge that the poetry borne out of real experience seems to have.
- He served in the RAF, but didn’t see any combat.
2
Q
Bayonet Charge — Rhyme:
A
There is no fixed rhyme scheme in this poem.
This helps to convey the chaotic nature of the soldiers’ circumstances.
3
Q
Bayonet Charge — Structure:
A
3 stanzas of 8, 7, 8 lines.
As the poem progresses, we have a structural shift from the soldier’s external actions to his internal thoughts as we arrive at the final lines.
