Kamikaze

Question 1

Kamikaze in a nutshell

Answer 1

Kamikaze was written by the poet Beatrice Garland in a bid to explore the reasons why soldiers choose to, or are asked to, die for their country. Garland’s poem Kamikaze presents the perspectives of both the kamikaze pilot and his daughter to show their different ideas about conflict.

Question 2

Lines 1-3

Answer 2

“Her father embarked at sunrise

with a flask of water, a samurai sword

in the cockpit, a shaven head”

Question 3

Translation of lines 1-3

Answer 3

The poem begins by reporting an event from a daughter’s perspective: a father leaves on a journey
The speaker mentions a list which details the pilot’s belongings and the ritualistic shaved head of a kamikaze pilot

Question 4

Intentions of lines 1-3

Answer 4

Garland begins her poem with a description of the pilot boarding his aeroplane to show the personal perspective of his experience
The reference to the ritual a kamikaze pilot undertakes before boarding tells readers the pilot is on a suicide mission for his country

Question 5

Lines 4-6

Answer 5

“full of powerful incantations

and enough fuel for a one-way

journey into history”

Question 6

Translation of lines 4-6

Answer 6

Garland refers again to the ritual: the pilot is repeating patriotic chants (“incantations”)
The speaker tells the reader that this is a suicide mission which will lead to glory for the pilot, that he will be respected always for his sacrifice

Question 7

Intentions of lines 4-6

Answer 7

Here, Garland refers to the power behind the chants of honour and glory which the pilot repeats to complete his military duty
Garland’s speaker lets readers know that this suicide mission is one of patriotism, that he has been called to carry out an important duty

Question 8

Lines 7-8

Answer 8

“but half way there, she thought,

recounting it later to her children,”

Question 9

Translation f lines 7-8

Answer 9

The speaker is the pilot’s daughter who is telling the story to her children
She continues the story of the father, suggesting that something changes “half way there”

Question 10

Intentions of lines 7-8

Answer 10

Garland alerts readers that this is a story being told by a mother to her children about her own father, showing the perspective of family members during and after conflict
The break in stanza pauses the story and, with the conjunction “but”, the speaker highlights something changed on the pilot’s journey, that he had doubts about his duties

Question 11

Lines 9-12

Answer 11

“he must have looked far down

at the little fishing boats

strung out like bunting

on a green-blue translucent sea”

Question 12

Transaltion of lines 9-12

Answer 12

Here, the speaker of the story recounts to her children what she imagines about the pilot’s journey: she guesses he looked down on the ocean from his aeroplane

Question 13

Garland intentionally of lines 9-12

Answer 13

The lines convey a tone of nostalgia as the pilot leaves his home behind
Garland explores the pilot’s thoughts and feelings in a bid to understand his experience
The speaker suggests the father may have felt emotional, homesick perhaps, as he sees the beautiful ocean

Question 14

Lines 13-16

Answer 14

“and beneath them, arcing in swathes

like a huge flag waved first one way

then the other in a figure of eight,

the dark shoals of fishes”

Question 15

Translation of lines 13-16

Answer 15

The speaker describes the scene below: the pilot can see the shadows of fish swimming under the water
Now the pilot can see a darker shadow of fish beneath the water
Garland describes the size and magnitude of the shoals of fish with the word “swathes” which means ‘a broad area’

Question 16

Intentions of lines 13-16

Answer 16

These lines contrast the earlier positive description of the scene
This description could convey darker thoughts in the pilot’s mind, suggesting he doubts his part in the conflict
The fish shoals are described as a flag, like a warning to him

Question 17

Lines 17-20

Answer 17

“flashing silver as their bellies

swivelled towards the sun

and remembered how he

and his brothers waiting on the shore”

Question 18

Translation of lines 17-20

Answer 18

The speaker describes the fish turning, now silver and bright in the sun
This reminds him of his childhood, fishing with his brothers

Question 19

Garlands intentions in 17-20

Answer 19

These lines depict the darker thoughts being replaced with brighter memories of the pilot’s childhood
The fish seem to signal to the pilot as they turn and flash in the sun, suggesting nature reminds him of what is important

Question 20

Lines 21-24

Answer 20

“built cairns of pearl-grey pebbles

to see whose withstood longest

the turbulent inrush of breakers

bringing their father’s boat safe”

Question 21

Translation of lines 21-24

Answer 21

The speaker tells us the pilot remembers how he built small graves of stone with his brother
He describes how he and his brother competed to see whose grave withstood the crash of waves as they brought the boat in

Question 22

Garlands intentions of lines 21-24

Answer 22

The pilot’s memories remind him of family, and of death
Here, Garland shows how the pilot remembers small intimate details of his past which help him realise the power of nature and the importance of family

Question 23

Lines 25-30

Answer 23

“- yes, grandfather’s boat – safe

to the shore, salt-sodden, awash

with cloud-marked mackerel,

black crabs, feathery prawns,

the loose silver of whitebait and once

a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.”

Question 24

Translation of lines 25-30

Answer 24

The speaker begins to list all the fish they would catch fishing together as a family
The pilot remembers catching a tuna, a strong and powerful fish

Question 25

Garlands intentions with lines 25-30

Answer 25

The disrupted rhythm here begins a stream of consciousness: The descriptions convey the vivid memory the pilot has as he looks down on the water where he fished with his family The speaker refers to the dark and powerful tuna, alluding to ideas of strength and power with a metaphor of "dark prince" However, Garland gives this power to nature, not the pilot: this subverts ideas relating to military strength and power

Question 26

Lines 31-33

Answer 26

“And though he came back my mother never spoke again in his presence, nor did she meet his eyes”

Question 27

Translation of lines 31-33

Answer 27

The speaker explains that the pilot did return home; he did not complete his mission However, his return was not welcomed by the speaker's mother, the pilot’s wife

Question 28

Garlands intentions of lines 31-33

Answer 28

Garland shows the power of the pilot’s childhood memories and love for his home: he returns, choosing not to die in conflict The perspective of the speaker’s mother is unexpected perhaps: she is disgraced by his return and his disobedience towards his duty to his country: Garland comments on the culture of honour and patriotism She conveys the extreme response of individuals when soldiers defy cultural values

Question 29

Lines 37-40

Answer 29

“till gradually we too learned to be silent, to live as though he had never returned, that this was no longer the father we loved.”

Question 30

Translation of lines 37-40

Answer 30

The speaker explains that the children were told to ignore their father too The lines here depict the way the children were taught to deny him as a father

Question 31

Intentions of lines 37-40

Answer 31

Garland shows an example of children being taught to mimic the ideas of their elders Her poem explores family conflicts as a result of cultural ideals regarding patriotism

Question 32

Lines 41-42

Answer 32

“And sometimes, she said, he must have wondered which had been the better way to die.”

Question 33

Translation o felines 41-42

Answer 33

The speaker ends the poem with her own reflections She considers the huge price her father paid for returning home instead of sacrificing his life for his country: She considers his life afterwards to be a metaphorical death too

Question 34

Intentions of lines 41-42

Answer 34

Garland comments on the sacrifice the father had to make whether or not he completed his suicide mission to explore the impact of patriotic values on family She ends the poem with a poignant comment which shifts the narration from the external to the internal: the ending suggests unresolved emotions