Bayonet Charge - PowerPoint Presentation

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Bayonet Charge

BY TED HUGHES (1930 – 1998)GCSE Bitesizehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetryconflict/bayonetcharge1.shtmlSlide2

Bayonet Charge

Notice the impact of the adverb “suddenly” as the first word in the poem.Suddenly he awoke and was running – rawIn raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy,Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedgeThat dazzled with rifle fire, hearingBullets smacking the belly out of the air –

Personification

He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm; SimilesThe patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eyeSweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest, –

Double meaning: Discomfort & Inexperienced

Dash affects meaning and pace

Soldier struggles to run and carry rifle.

Irony of patriotism that sent him to war

Pronoun keeps soldier’s identify anonymous and universalSlide3

In bewilderment then he almost stopped –

In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nationsWas he the hand pointing that second? He was runningLike a man who has jumped up in the dark and runsListening between his footfalls for the reasonOf his still running, and his foot hung likeStatuary in mid-stride. Then the shot-slashed furrows

Dash shows soldier’s hesitation.

Metaphor of the clock shows that the soldier questions the bureaucracy that sent him to war; thus, it is “cold.”

Simile creates an image of someone blind and irrational—just like war.

Soldier is turned to stone by his bewilderment.

Caesura ends period of thought and returns him to the action.

Note purpose of alliteration and consonance

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Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame

And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wideOpen silent, its eyes standing out.He plunged past with his bayonet toward the green hedge,King, honour, human dignity, etceteraDropped like luxuries in a yelling alarmTo get out of that blue crackling airHis terror’s touchy dynamite.

Note the effect of the simile

.A “threshing circle” is an agricultural term suggesting that nature is also affected by war.Why has Hughes used this image of the hare? What does it represent?

This simile suggests that the original reasons for the soldier’s enlistment no longer hold any appeal. He hasn’t time to consider anything but staying alive, which is his real motivation.

After noting the reasons for enlisting, the use of “etcetera” infers that there is no good reason—it’s just rhetoric.Slide5

Subject matter

Bayonet Charge is perhaps unusual for a Ted Hughes poem in that it focuses on a nameless soldier in the First World War (1914-18).It describes the experience of 'going over-the-top'. This was when soldiers hiding in trenches were ordered to 'fix bayonets' (attach the long knives to the end of their rifles) and climb out of the trenches to charge an enemy position 20 or 30 metres away. The aim was to capture the enemy trench. The poem describes how this process transforms a solider from a living thinking person into a dangerous weapon of war.Slide6

Form and structure

The poem is written in three stanzas. All three are filled with words and images, which could suggest the thick mud appropriate for a poem whose main theme is about a man running across a muddy field carrying a heavy gun.The length of the lines varies a lot. Hughes uses long and short lines to suggest the quick and slow progress of the soldier.The first stanza is all about action and running. The soldier is awake and running within six words of the opening line. The flow, however, is broken by the use of dashes "–" (three in the first stanza, one at the beginning of the second). This breaks up the flow of the poem and shows how the soldier is waking up to what is happening and slowly starting to think.The second stanza therefore happens in a kind of slow-motion (note the three lines that are broken in the middle by punctuation – lines 11, 14 and 15).The second half of line 15 breaks this spell and he knows he has to rush, without thinking, towards his death in the final stanza.Slide7

Punctuation

The manner in which Hughes uses punctuation to alter the pace of the poem because it intensifies the soldier’s experience for the reader.The use of enjambment and caesura creates lines of uneven length creating an irregular rhythm that mirrors the soldier struggling to run through the mud.The poem begins in media res and covers the soldier’s movements and thoughts over a short space of time.Slide8

Language and imagery

There is the frantic action of battle and the thick difficulty of the mud. In the middle of all this, there is the sudden fear and clear thoughts of the solider. These feelings are presented in images you can see as well as images you can hear.Slide9

Sound

Hughes uses a dense repetition of words and sounds right from the beginning. For example, in stanza one he uses the alliteration of the 'h' sound that expresses the soldier's heavy breathing.Slide10

Imagery

The rich descriptions contrast with where the solider is heading - a simple, almost childish description – line 3.Another form of contrast is between the imagery of war and the imagery of nature. Throughout the poem we have a background of farming and the natural world: line 3 and 16. The hare, however, becomes an image of death.Similes like those found in line 8 and bring a sense of hell to the battlefield.Slide11

Attitudes, themes and ideas

This poem tries to step inside the body and mind of a soldier carrying out one of the most terrifying acts of this or any war: charging straight into rifle fire with the aim of killing enemy soldiers face-to-face. In doing so, Hughes dramatizes the struggle between a man's thoughts and actions.At the start of the poem the solider is instinctively obeying orders. In stanza two he has moments of clarity when he thinks about what he is doing and time seems to stop still.In the end, all high moral justifications such as king and country, have become meaningless. He himself becomes a form of human bomb, not a person but a weapon of war.Slide12

comparison

Futility – this is another poem about the First World War trenches. It also deals with the horror of war, but from a different point of view. Owen considers the futility of war in a moment of peace. Hughes places his poem in the heat of the action. Futility is about mourning. Bayonet Charge is about dying. Both poems, however, use a contrast between war and nature to express their feelings.Belfast Confetti – this poem also tries to express the actual experience of conflict. It uses a range of language techniques to present feelings of fear and confusion. It also uses form and structure to convey the energy and noise of conflict. Being poets, both Carson and Hughes also show how language and thought become impossible when challenged by action and violence.Slide13

Sample question

Whatever grade you are working towards, the basic structure of any answer will be the same:The introduction will explain the relevance of the question to the feelings the poem expresses and an overview of the story the poem tells.One paragraph covers form.One paragraph covers 

structure

.One paragraph covers language (sound and verbal imagery).Conclusion

: You then conclude on the meaning that emerges from this.For each point, you need to 

provide evidence (a quote or reference) and an explanation

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Prompt: How does the poet present the experience of conflict in Bayonet Charge?Slide15

Poetry

V.I.T.A.L.S.Voice: Who is speaking in the poem?Imagery: What imagery is being created? How is it effective?Theme: What are the main themes featured in the poem?Address: To whom is the poem addressed?

Language

: What type of language/devices are used and what is their effect?Structure: How is the poem structured and what is the effect of this?Slide16

You could make the following points:

Ted Hughes explores the experience of conflict by writing about a soldier in the middle of a battle.He uses form, structure and imagery to express feelings of noise, violence and confusion.The form looks regular: the stanzas are eight, seven and eight lines long: this suggests the soldier's strong sense of purpose as well as the thick mud he has to run through.Slide17

The length of the lines, however changes: there are long lines ending in his destination (lines 3 and 19) showing the long distance he has to run; there are also short lines presenting images of violence and fear (lines 4 and 18).

The structure therefore shows the changing emotions of the soldier as he runs across towards the hedge. Outside he may look strong, but inside he is in turmoil.Hughes uses alliteration to express the strong feelings of the solider in battle: the 'r' in lines 1 and 2.He also uses strong nouns and adjectives which he pushes together to form expressive images: line 15.He uses similes to express a sense of hell on earth: lines 8 and 16.Finally, he ends with a metaphor to show how the thinking, feeling man has been transformed into a tool of battle that will kill or be killed.Slide18

Complete these

P.E.E. paragraphs:The poet includes the quotation ‘patriotic tear’ because… This makes the reader think…Hughes describes the soldier as ‘sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest’. This makes the reader think… the writer picked ‘center’ of his chest because….