A bayonet charge is a tactic used in warfare where soldiers, armed with bayonets (a pointed weapon that attaches to the end of a rifle), charge at the enemy in close combat. This tactic was commonly used during the early days of firearms when reloading a gun could take a significant amount of time, and it was more effective for soldiers to close in on the enemy and engage in hand-to-hand combat with their bayonets. Bayonet charges were used extensively in the World Wars and other conflicts.

Right now, soldiers from two nations are fighting a war with worldwide consequences. Countries around the globe contribute, either to the detriment of one country involved or to the benefit of the other. A hundred years ago, A similar tableau played out.

Then, armies didn't have the sophisticated weaponry that Russia and Ukraine have at their disposal today. A century ago, combatants fought from trenches, often having to see their enemies mow them down. Confronting a man just like you - tired, hungry and cold, would you be able to pull the trigger? To run a bayonet through them?

Plenty would say yes. But that question, indeed, the entire concept of 'glorious battle' fails to invoke the moral and mental consequences of killing your mirror image. For that, we have Ted Hughes' Bayonet Charge. We need to understand:

  • what this poem is about
  • whose perspective it's written from
  • the literary techniques the writer uses
  • the linguistic devices used to convey meaning
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Summary of Bayonet Charge

"Bayonet Charge" is a gripping and powerful poem written by the acclaimed poet Ted Hughes, who masterfully delves into the raw and brutal reality of war. The poem presents a vivid and harrowing depiction of a soldier's experience on the battlefield, capturing the terror and chaos of combat in unparalleled detail. Through expert bayonet charge analysis and evocative language, Hughes crafts a work that immerses readers in the visceral horrors of war and the soldier's internal conflict.

The bayonet charge context is firmly rooted in the historical period of warfare when soldiers used bayonets in close combat. Ted Hughes' bayonet charge explores this terrifying aspect of war, while also shedding light on the psychological turmoil that soldiers endure. Bayonet charge annotations provide valuable insights into the deeper meaning behind the poem's powerful imagery and themes.

The poem is carefully annotated to highlight key quotes, themes, and imagery that emphasize the horrors of war and the inner struggle of the soldier. By doing so, Hughes enables the reader to grasp a deeper understanding of what is bayonet charge about and the stark reality of conflict. The bayonet charge quotes and structure effectively convey the chaotic nature of the battlefield and the disorienting experience of the soldier, further enhancing the overall impact of the work.

"Bayonet Charge" touches on themes such as the loss of humanity, fear, and the struggle for survival in the face of overwhelming odds. These bayonet charge themes are skillfully interwoven throughout the poem, providing a compelling narrative that resonates with readers. The bayonet charge key quotes serve to reinforce its powerful message, making it an unforgettable piece that provides a sobering insight into the reality of war.

In addition to its powerful themes and bayonet charge structure, the poem can be compared to other war-related works, such as the poem "Remains." The bayonet charge and remains comparison offers readers a broader perspective on the diverse experiences of soldiers in conflict and the various ways that poets have sought to express these emotions and experiences.

The bayonet charge poem annotated reveals the rich analysis, powerful imagery, and masterful structure of the poem, which captures the essence of the battlefield and the psychological turmoil faced by soldiers. By delving into this harrowing subject matter, Ted Hughes provides readers with a thought-provoking and unforgettable piece that continues to resonate long after the final line is read.

In summary, the bayonet charge poem analysis reveals that Ted Hughes' "Bayonet Charge" is a profoundly moving and poignant exploration of the nature of war and the human condition. Written during a time when bayonet charges were common in warfare, the poem showcases the challenges faced by soldiers. Through its rich analysis, powerful imagery, and masterful structure, the poem captures the essence of the battlefield and the psychological turmoil faced by soldiers. By delving into this harrowing subject matter, Hughes provides readers with a thought-provoking and unforgettable piece that continues to resonate long after the final line is read.

Who Was Ted Hughes?

Sir Hughes was an English poet and children's author. He is often counted among the best poets of his generation, as well as one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. Queen Elizabeth appointed him Poet Laureate in 1984, a post he served in until his death in 1998.

A brick home with an outside chimney viewed from the driveway side with a low wall in the foreground.
Sir Hughes home Lumb Bank, in Yorkshire, where he spent his later life. Source Wikipedia Credit Phil Champion

He grew up in Yorkshire, the youngest of three children. His childhood was ordinary, spent on the farms that dotted the Calder Valley. He whiled his time in typical pursuits; hunting, fishing and enjoying moments with his close-knit family. Even in early childhood, he demonstrated a deep love for animals. That titbit contrasts with his enjoyment of 'retrieving' for his brother. As the older lad hunted, young Ted retrieved whatever game the bullets found.

This idyllic existence harbours one dark secret. William Hughes, his father, had served with the Lancashire Fusiliers during the First World War. He fought in the Battle of Ypres, very narrowly cheating death. Like so many fighters, he carried his pay booklet in his breast pocket, over his heart. That mini-ledger stopped the bullet, making him just one of 17 combatants to return home from the Gallipoli Campaign.

These events took place long before young Ted made his entrance in August 1930. However, there must have been some powerful recounting and sharing of details of these events. The Bayonet Charge isn't the only poem Sir Hughes wrote about the First World War. His poem Out vividly describes life on the Western Front.

Bayonet Charge is by no means a love poem, like Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy is. It's obvious the love for his father runs deep, though. The stories told in his boyhood accompanied him throughout his life until he set them to paper - and, no doubt, much further beyond that. There could hardly be a greater tribute than being the inspiration for a great poem, could there?

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What is Bayonet Charge About?

This poem describes the few desperate moments of a soldier's charge against a defended position. It underscores the feelings of fear, dislocation and confusion common in battle. The soldier and the conflict are only described in general terms, meaning that the experience is made universal and relatable.

Relatable? We're long past the era of trench warfare, obviously. But don't we all have a moment or two in our lives where a moment stretched like taffy as we wonder what, exactly we're witnessing? Don't we all have moments of abject terror when we shed dignity and honour just to make it to our hedge? Read through these verses to see if you find yourself in them.

Bayonet Charge By Ted Hughes

Suddenly he awoke and was running – raw
In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy,
Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedge
That dazzled with rifle fire, hearing
Bullets smacking the belly out of the air –
He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm;
The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye
Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest,

In bewilderment then he almost stopped –
In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations
Was he the hand pointing that second? He was running
Like a man who has jumped up in the dark and runs
Listening between his footfalls for the reason
Of his still running, and his foot hung like
Statuary in mid-stride. Then the shot-slashed furrows

Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame
And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide
Open silent, its eyes standing out.
He plunged past with his bayonet toward the green hedge,
King, honour, human dignity, etcetera
Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm
To get out of that blue crackling air
His terror’s touchy dynamite.

Aspects of Bayonet Charge

Critiquing a poem entails examining it from all sides. You need to consider the tone it conveys, the language and syntax and the form used. Each element presents a new layer of meaning.

Pace and Tone

The poem starts suddenly, with no explanation or scene-setting other than the title.  The soldier is unlikely to have been actually asleep. The idea that he 'awoke' from a sleep-like state of stillness or waited into a state of action sets the poem into a hyper-real mode. These expressions of startled involvement set the stage for what's to come. 

 First, as he runs, the soldier is confused and stumbling, clumsily lugging his rifle and feeling pain and panic in his chest. Strong enjambments keep the verses uneven and sudden. Until Hughes uses a dash parenthesis - like this - and a stanza break to change the speed and the tone.

The soldier's confusion leads him to almost stop. The reader is are given insight into the clarity that comes with fear and realisation for a soldier ordered 'over the top'.  He observes himself and the space around him in infinite and exquisite detail. Within this absolute clarity, he has time to wonder about his place in this moment. In this space.

The soldier questions "Why me?  Why here and now?". He pictures himself as the hand on a clock, subject to the inevitable force of a clockwork motor that cannot be slowed or quickened.  He realises that he does not really know why he is running. He feels like a statue frozen in time. Though differently done, Seamus Heaney's Storm on the Island describes the same phenomenon.

The poet could have used longer lines to help illustrate the conceit of time stopping still.  The line 'In what cold clockwork…' has twelve syllables and three stressed beats in a row ('In what cold clockwork'). This structure forces the reader to slow as the work is read.

The 'still' of 'still running' is used as an adjective. It could be understood to describe the continuing running of the soldier. Yet the word is ambiguous, suggesting an oxymoron of unmoving running that is like a severe slow-motion sequence in a film.  Then the 'shot-slashed furrows' prepare us to change gears again.  

The soldier's focus moves to consider the hare that has been startled or hurt by the gunfire. He realises that he cannot stay and philosophise if he is to survive. He must race on and find cover or he, like the hare, will soon be wordlessly writhing in his own 'threshing circle' in the field.

A hare in a meadow with his ears extended, looking straight at the camerra.
The hare is more of a presence than the man's honour. Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash

Form

Bayonet Charge is presented as though it had a formal shape. But in reality, there is no strong pattern inside the lines. Perhaps that's meant to pay tribute to the many fighters of the First World War. They were conscripted and dressed in uniform, appearing to be a unified fighting force... But remaining civilians under their raw-seamed, hot khaki.  

The three stanzas have eight, seven and eight lines, respectively. But the strong enjambment means that the break between the second and third stanzas is already stressed. The start of a new stanza artificially gives a greater emphasis and urgency to the words 'Threw up a yellow hare'. That construction dramatises the surprise of the animal's appearance and the break in the soldier's daydream.  The lines have around five stressed syllables each - some more, some fewer. But parts of the work are strongly iambic and other parts more trochaic.

Language

The work does not give an account of a particular charge, a particular battle or a particular soldier.  The man has a dominant presence in the poem, as indicated by the repetition of the pronouns 'he' and 'his' - six times each. Has no rank or name. He is presented quickly in the first line. As we might meet him in the heat of battle. 

This helps the poem become a narrative of action. No enemy appears but the verses are full of movement and detail.  In fact, the work really imagines how a soldier's attention, even under fire, can be distracted. He might find strange events to focus on the ground beneath him, nature around him or his place in the universe. These are all recurring themes in Hughes' poetry but they serve well in this work to illustrate the mad need to escape from horror.

The animal gets a detailed, three-line description. By contrast, 'King, honour, human dignity' and everything else associated with them are rattled off in a single list, all in one line.  These abstract ideas are clearly less important at the moment than the soldier's apprehension of what is going on around him.

They are luxuries of thought that he has no time to appreciate. They are heavy, yet valuable treasures. They must be dropped in the rush to escape. Unlike Carol Ann Duffy's Medusa, there is neither suspicion nor doubt in his mind. 

Themes Addressed in Bayonet Charge

For such a complex work, it appears deceptively simple. Halting, almost. Its structure gives one the feeling of a stop-motion film. Of movements incrementally made to compose an advancing narrative. On the surface, we see those snapshots: a soldier rising out of a trench, a rabbit shot into a startled cartwheel...

As subtly as possible, Sir Hughes paints violence with his words. We're enticed to focus on the hare's wild spin in favour of ignoring the violence that provoked it. We witness the frantic dash toward the hedge but forget about the terror that spurred it. The human mind treats violence that way. Distraction and deflection, lest you realise how profoundly evil violence is.

The terror! Bayonet Charge doesn't take on any airs. It doesn't presume to tell us that the animal was dining on fear. But we know how furiously the creature's heart must have pounded. Nor does it pretend that fear paralysed the unnamed fighter. Instead, it stretches time to give incredulity its due. It lets the reader intuit the combatant's fear.

Besides the hare and the soldier, there is nobody else. Odd situation, in the thick of battle, no? This serves two purposes, the first being to represent a single snapshot of a single moment. The second is far more profound: no two men fight the same war.

We often say that dramatic events - cataclysmic happenings like wars form the tightest of bonds. In a sense, that's true. People naturally gravitate to those who've been through the same things they have. But such events are deeply isolating, too. You might discuss an event's particulars, what time it was or what you were wearing. But you'll never come close to fully illustrating what you felt in those moments.

The isolation theme permeates this work. There's only one soldier, one rabbit and one hedge. There's no time to see to the animal, the hedge must be reached at all costs. And the hedge itself promises anonymity and concealment, away from all others. You get the same impression from Robert Minhinnick's The Yellow Palm, as he portrays himself as disconnected from everything he describes.

Finally and most obviously, the theme of futility. Why are there hares if they're to be senselessly shot? Why fight a war if it costs men their lives? Nowhere does Sir Hughes illustrate the concept of futility better than in the line "Listening between his footfalls for the reason" why he was running.

A soldier in full khaki combat dress carrying a rifle and munitions kit walking on train tracks next to strung out barbed wire
Bayonet Charge describes one combatant's moment of terror on the battlefield. Photo by Stijn Swinnen on Unsplash

Time and Reverence: A Vivid Exploration of War and Humanity in Ted Hughes' Bayonet Charge

Bayonet Charge is a snapshot of war, at least, on the surface. Just beneath it, we find themes common throughout Sir Hughes' body of work. For instance, he often uses animals to show the beauty and violence of life. Bayonet Charge shows a deep reverence for his father, too. Even though he grew up in wartime, he likely drew on his father's experiences rather than his own to compose this work.

It's hard to tell whose perspective these verses narrate. The soldier has no name and we don't know whose side he's fighting for. Is he older and battle-hardened? Is he a young man, terrified he'll never experience love and life? Whoever he may be, he's anything but a dispassionate observer.

The poem is structured such that the reader gets a sense of time rushing, slowing and then speeding up again. From the somnolent start "Suddenly he awoke" to "In bewilderment he almost stopped", the reader gets the idea that things happen in bursts. The hare's detailed spin and the shedding of honour in headlong flight again convey the impression of an extended pause before brisk action.

The verses follow some iambic and some trochaic conventions but it is neither. Instead, more emphasis is placed on the visuals and impressions than on metre and rhyme. Thus, the irregular line count in each verse.

The language overall expresses action. Much like the bride in Charlotte Mew's poem, the act of running away is central to the narrative. And, as in Ms Mew's work, there is no enemy to be seen. However,  both of these works do a great job of showing the need to escape from the horror. Even if the horrors are completely different in nature.

Sir Hughes uses a few well-placed similes to enhance the visual quality of his writing. For instance, how he had to drop honour and human dignity like luxuries in a yelling alarm. Or "... his foot hung like statuary in mid-stride" to drive home the idea that the soldier was truly rendered immobile for that moment. Elsewhere, the writing is clean and straightforward, evocative for its brevity.

If you didn't know about Tim Hughes' close-knit family and reasonably secure childhood, you might think this work relates to a combat veteran's actual experience. It's truly remarkable that he could relate to such a battlefield moment so convincingly when he had not lived through any himself. His attention to detail makes vivid the experience. His command of time, stretching and accelerating it, demonstrates his mastery of verse composition.

WPSLOMP - 'what is it about', perspective, structure, language, other methods and personal opinion were used to analyse Bayonet Charge. You might be familiar with this acronym. If you need more practice using it to critique poetry, you can try your hand at it with Percy Bysshe Shelly's Love Philosophy. 

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Emma

I am passionate about traveling and currently live and work in Paris. I like to spend my time reading, gardening, running, learning languages, and exploring new places.