Kamikaze

Question 1

Presents a mother talking to her own children about her own father who was a kamikaze pilot

Answer 1

• The daughter imagines (when telling her own children), that the pilot must have looked down at the fishing boats and the beauty of nature, reminding him of his own childhood, playing at the shore with his brothers whilst waiting for their father to come back from fishing
• Filled with shame of his actions the pilot’s wife never spoke to him again, or even looked at him
• Everyone treated him ashamedly and even his children learnt to be silent, and to treat him as if he wasn’t there
• The pilot must have wondered if the kamikaze death would have been better than this emotional death
• This poem shows a inner conflict between the cultural, military and national expectation

Question 2

Structure

The TIGHT structure reflects the tight control of the military and the national expectation of what the pilot should do

Answer 2

Free verse and enjambment
- Contrast the tight control in the stanzas, and this freedom of expression reflects the freedom the pilots wants to have

Question 3

‘A tuna, the dark prince muscular, dangerous’

Answer 3

• The most character in the poem is a tuna fish
• The metaphor ‘dark prince’ coupled with the adjectives ‘muscular’ and ‘dangerous’ creates a threatening, intense, powerful image
• The poems 1 full stop appears after this line, which signals its importance
• Despite the best effort of the pilot, it’s the tuna fish that is truly powerful in this poem
• Perhaps the poet is suggesting that the true power belongs to nature and humanities efforts are futile - maybe this is the realisation that causes the pilot to turn around and return home
• The realisation of how minute and unimportant human life is when contrasted with the vast array of nature.