BC Flashcards
(14 cards)
Author
Hughes
Why written?
Perhaps a reflection on his father’s experiences in WW1?
Purposes
- Futility of war/lack of power of the individual/humanise the experience of soldiers/psychological effects of war/critique of those in power
Opening (quote)
: “Suddenly he awoke and was running – raw”.
Opening (anal.)
: “Suddenly he awoke and was running – raw”.
In medias res.
Waking up is a symbol. He realises while he is running that his glorified perspectives of war were false. HE IS WOKE
“raw”: his emotions, maybe he is raw and young. Raw has connotations of meat and this is what the soldier is regarded as (AO3 to ““cannon fodder”” attitudes in WW1). He is disposable.
Technique 1 (quote)
“lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm”:
Technique 1 (anal.)
“lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm”:
the rifle is USELESS! It’s being used literally just as a way to carry a bayonet.
“lugged” suggests it is heavy; sense of lethargy.
“numb” is metonomy. The rifle represents the soldier’s emotional state, or his arm, which is “smashed” – useless.
He’ll probably be shot when he reaches the other trench.
Technique 2 (quote)
- “[patriotic tear] sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”.
Technique 2 (anal.)
- “[patriotic tear] sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”:
Simile. The tear is now molten iron. It burns him in the very centre of his being.
He has been transformed. The charge has killed his former self; he has a new persona and perspective of the war.
Technique 3 (quote)
“Listening between his footfalls for the reason / Of his still running”.
Technique 3 (anal.)
- “Listening between his footfalls for the reason / Of his still running”:
Enjambment
Forces reader to focus on “reason”.
Double meaning. Both the cause and the ability to think clearly. He has an epiphany, an insight into the futility of war and its inherent horror.
Ending (quote)
“His terror’s touchy dynamite”.
Ending (anal.)
“His terror’s touchy dynamite”:
His emotions are violent – he is dynamite.
OR his terror will kill him – makes him charge instead of helping himself.
OR he will survive the war and that will be dynamite - the war will affect him and this will have consequences (eg his children will have vastly different views of war than he did going into WW1).
Soldiers wholly dehumanised here. They are not even ““meat””, just weapons now.
Structure anal.
Different number of syllables in each line.
No repeated rhythm to syllables.
No repetition of line length.
Disjointed – reflects the life of a soldier, or war itself.
