Suddenly he awoke and was running- raw
In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy,
- Starts is media res- starting in the middle of something.
- Alliteration of R and H sounds gives sense of hard work heavy breathing.
- “raw” implies a lack of training, but it also suggests that they feel as if war has ripped the human part out of them.
- The uniform is uncomfortable because they were mass produced due to there being so many soldiers.
Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedge
- Contrast between warzone and the ‘green hedge’ which is quite a peaceful rural image.
- they could be “stumbling for a number of reasons, one could be because they are exhausted, another could be because the ground is uneven and another could be because all the heavy equipment weighs them down.
- No soldiers are actually mentioned so this could imply that nature is just as bigger enemy for them.
- They are stumbling over the earth because they are told to so there is no heroism in that imagery.
That dazzled with rifle fire, hearing
- Enjambment adds to the chaos of the battlefield.
- confusion- too blinded by the patriotic sense to see the true horrors of war.
- pace picks up.
Bullets smacking the belly out of the air -
- Personified bullets and semantic body parts with ‘belly’ and ‘smashed arm’ blurs the line between weapon and man by dehumanising the soldier and personifying the weapons.
- onomatopoeia- “smacking”
The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye
Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest, -
- Juxtaposed ideas of patriotic tear, a beautiful and noble thing full of emotion contrasted with ‘sweating like molten iron’ which further dehumanises the soldier and likens him more to a tank or machine.
- hot and painful, war has removed the patriotic sense and replaced it with pain.
In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations
- Clockwork, A metaphor for his actions as being more like a clockwork machine than human. Trivialises war to a game of toy clockwork soldiers between nations.
- harsh alliteration sounds
- The universe is a machine and has no feeling.
- stars suggest fait- the soldiers fait is in another hands.
Was he the hand pointing that second? He was running
- Rhetorical Question, marks the change of pace, it is as if this is happening in slow motion or the soldier has stopped as he thinks on what he has become.
- His body does one thing, but he wants to do another.
Like a man who has jumped up in the dark and runs
-Enjambment, over four verses implies he has suddenly come to some realisation and this both seems to drag on but also all happen at once.
Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame
- Metaphor, is it a real hare? Maybe a coward? Yellow is the colour of fear and hares are prey. Natural and frightened image juxtaposed with his own machine like nature. Possible that the hare is another soldier shot and scared, trying to escape. Dehumanised.
- impact on nature
And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide
Painful circle- not getting anywhere
He plunged past with his bayonet toward the green hedge
- ‘plunges’ implies diving in too deep or cannot return. He has made his decision to carry on and there is no turning back.
- plosive alliteration- suggests effort.
- can’t help the person that needs help, must continue no matter what the impact of war.
King, honour, human dignity, etcetera
- Listing of the key motivations for war emphasises that here and now they are second to the rush of battle.
- the fact it’s not expanded on could signify that they feel no emotion towards the reasons anymore.
To get out of that blue crackling air
Atmospheric description, similar to ‘the air was electric’, the word ‘crackling’ gives an element of danger to the verse, the fact it’s air means it is surrounding them.
His terror’s touchy dynamite.
- Metaphor and Consonance of T sounds emphasises adrenaline rush and almost animal like reactions (Think of a cat that is prepared to fight or flee).
- shorter line, higher chance of dying, on edge
Who wrote this poem?
Ted Hughes
Talk about the poems context…
The poem is about a nameless soldier going over the top in the trenches. Soldiers would have bayonets attached to the end of their rifles and would use them to stab enemy soldiers. The nameless soldier in the poem seems to become more a
weapon than a man, rushing toward the enemy. It is not clear at the end whether
he dies but there is definitely a change in him. His actions are very raw and primal,
much like an animal, suddenly pausing, preparing to react. The poet, Ted Hughes,
was a former RAF serviceman and includes a great amount of natural and historical ideas in his poems and he often looks at man’s impact on nature.
Give a brief summary of what the poem is about.
It is about the reality vs the patriotic idealisms of war in WW1. It expresses the implications of war.
Talk about the themes behind it…
The poem clearly is set around conflict in that it is a soldier rushing out of the trenches on the attack. However the poem also looks at ideas like transformation, humanity and nature (in the form of the yellow hare and green hedge). In the poem the solider is almost more machine or animal than human and this is reflected in the power themed words used to describe him.
Describe the poems structure…
There are three stanzas and the work is largely blank verse with no set structure. In part the different lines help
show the pace of the charge, sometimes fast, sometimes stumbling. Towards the end it picks up speed, perhaps as he approaches his destination or doom. The poet uses a lot of enjambment and caesuras to give a bizarre and erratic speed to the poem. This helps again give a structure to the speed of the charge but also the confusion and intensity of the battle with explosions and gunfire as well as the jumbled thoughts of the soldier.
What is the significance of the hare?
There are parts of this poem which make us think more of a hunt or animals than humanity. The charge to the ‘green hedge’ seems to be more the action of an animal bolting in a field rather than soldiers charging a trench. The inclusion of the yellow hare is also powerful, we see the soldier in a moment of confusion, not sure why he is there and what he is doing, the hare seems to spur him on, either because he does not want to be a coward or because it reflects a brief moment of man and nature connecting before war once again breaks it.
Key points…
- The poem explores a soldiers charge through a mix of physical and emotional exploration.
- The language of the poem seems to juxtapose natural animal images and human machine, they are at conflict.
- The mix of caesura and enjambment in the poem adds a chaotic tone to show the confusion of war and the inner turmoil of the soldier.
themes in Bayonet Charge…
- Effects of conflict
- Reality of conflict
- Fear
- Individual Experience
Key quotes…
"dazzled with rifle fire" "patriotic tear" "cold clockwork" 'etcetera" "lugged"
