Bayonet Charge BY TED HUGHES 1930 1998 Think

Bayonet Charge BY TED HUGHES (1930 – 1998) Think: • What major world events did Ted Hughes live through? • What may have influenced his writing?

bayonet’ ‘clod’ ‘patriotic’ ‘bewilderment’ ‘statuary’ ‘furrows’ ‘threshing’

Copy these words onto your page (leave a few lines in between each one): suddenly raw dazzled smacking molten smashed patriotic tear threshing Consider both the literal meaning and the connotations of each. Now write down what your impressions are of these words. What do they make you think of? Use a dictionary if you are unsure.

Like this… Suddenly – shock – something happening you can’t stop, you can’t go back Dazzled – blinded, can’t see, confused - hurts

As you listen to the poem fill the solider with words he might be feeling.

Find 2 or 3 quotations to put around/ underneath/ next to the outline that demonstrate these feelings.

Language challenge Find and highlight all the similes in the poem Extra challenge: why does the poet use so many? Find and highlight personification in the poem

CRITICAL TERM: ENJAMBMENT (en-scharm-ent) the running on of the thought from one line or stanza to the next. For example from 2 nd stanza in Bayonet Charge: Was he the hand pointing that second? He was running Like a man who has jumped up in the dark. - It continues the poet’s train of thought. - Grade 4: Find the other examples in the poem. - Grade 5: Consider the effect of each example

Critical Term Caesura A stop or a comma in the middle of a line Why would a poet do this? What is it’s effect?

Read the poem ‘Bayonet Charge’ and complete the questions/tasks: Who is speaking in the poem and how do you know this? Identify one simile and one metaphor – label these. HIGHLIGHT ALL LINES THAT HAVE ENJAMBMENT. Highlight all the words that have connotations of violence (in one colour) and then connotations of fear (in a different colour).

Complete these PEE 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 ‘centre’ of his chest because….

Interpretations of the poem

How could you compare this poem to Charge of The Light Brigade? How are they similar? How are they different? Copy and complete this: The poems ‘Bayonet Charge’ and ‘The Charge of The Light Brigade’ both deal with the issue of. . . Hughes presents the idea of. . as a bad/horrible/terrible. . . This is similar/different to COTLB where Tennyson presents war/ the soldiers as. . . [insert quotation here]