Skip to content
Storgy

Bayonet ChargeShort story by Ted Hughes

Flashcards for Bayonet Charge

27 cards · 2 characters · 9 key quotes · 4 symbols · 12 literary devices. Nothing is saved and nothing is asked for — close the tab and the deck resets.

Tool · Flashcards

Card 1 of 27 · 0 of 27 marked known

Every card

Front and back, in deck order — print this page to cut them out.

Characters · 2

  1. The Enemy (implied)

    In Ted Hughes's poem Bayonet Charge, The Enemy is never explicitly seen, named, or given a voice — yet their looming presence influences every moment of the poem's action.

    character

  2. The Soldier

    The Soldier is the unnamed protagonist in Ted Hughes's war poem "Bayonet Charge."

    character

Key quotes · 9

  1. “Suddenly he awoke and was running—raw”

    This opening line of Ted Hughes's poem "Bayonet Charge" plunges the reader straight into the chaos of World War I combat.

    Narrative voice / unnamed soldier

  2. “Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedge”

    This line is taken from Ted Hughes's poem "Bayonet Charge," where an unnamed soldier finds himself unexpectedly charging across an open battlefield.

    Narrative voice / unnamed soldier

  3. “In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations / Was he the hand pointing that second?”

    These lines are taken from Ted Hughes's poem "Bayonet Charge," where an unnamed soldier finds himself charging across a battlefield, with terror eclipsing any abstract ideals.

    Narrative voice / speaker of the poem

  4. “In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy”

    This striking line is from Ted Hughes's poem "Bayonet Charge," a dramatic monologue that depicts an unnamed British soldier charging across no-man's-land.

    Narrator (third-person) · Stanza 1

  5. “His terror's touchy dynamite”

    This line is from Ted Hughes's poem "Bayonet Charge," which powerfully portrays a World War I soldier in the midst of an attack who suddenly questions his motivations for running and the patriotic ideals that have led him into such peril.

    Third-person narrator · Bayonet Charge (poem)

  6. “The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye / Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”

    This striking image is drawn from Ted Hughes's poem "Bayonet Charge," which first appeared in his 1957 collection The Hawk in the Rain.

    Narrative voice / the soldier (focalized)

  7. “King, honour, human dignity, etcetera / Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm”

    These lines come from Ted Hughes's intense war poem "Bayonet Charge," where an unnamed soldier finds himself charging across an open field, driven purely by instinct and fear.

    Narrative voice / implied soldier

  8. “He plunged past with his bayonet toward the green hedge”

    This line is taken from Ted Hughes's intense war poem "Bayonet Charge," where an unnamed soldier finds himself charging across an open field, propelled by pure instinct and fear.

    Third-person narrator

  9. “A yellow hare that rolled like a flame / And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide”

    This powerful image appears in Ted Hughes's poem "Bayonet Charge," which was published in his 1957 debut collection The Hawk in the Rain.

    Narrator (third-person) · Bayonet Charge (single poem)

Symbols · 4

  1. Patriotic Tear / King, honour, human dignity

    In Ted Hughes's "Bayonet Charge," the yellow hare symbolizes a raw, instinctive life devoid of any ideological justification.

  2. The Bayonet

    In Ted Hughes's poem "Bayonet Charge," the bayonet captures the harsh, dehumanizing truth of modern warfare and how lofty ideals crumble when survival is on the line.

  3. The Field

    In Ted Hughes's "Bayonet Charge," the open field the soldier sprints across reflects the brutal and dehumanising reality of modern warfare.

  4. The Hare

    In Ted Hughes's "Bayonet Charge," the hare represents the innocent, instinct-driven life that war destroys.

Literary devices · 12

  1. Imagery

    Hughes fills the poem with raw, dynamic imagery that pulls the reader into the soldier's experience.

  2. Free Verse

    "Bayonet Charge" lacks a fixed rhyme scheme or consistent metrical pattern, and this freedom in form is itself a powerful expression.

  3. Enjambment

    Enjambment is one of Hughes's key technical tools in this piece.

  4. Simile

    Hughes employs simile to challenge the soldier's experience and remove any sense of heroism.

  5. Personification

    The non-human world is portrayed with violent agency throughout the poem.

  6. Metaphor

    The poem's central metaphor depicts the soldier as a part of a vast, indifferent machine.

  7. Volta

    The poem's volta hits in the third stanza when we see the yellow hare "rolling in agony."

  8. Symbolism

    The bayonet in the title takes on deeper meaning throughout the poem.

  9. Alliteration

    Hughes uses alliteration to build momentum and enhance meaning.

  10. Rhetorical Question

    The poem's sole direct question — "In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations / Was he the hand pointing" — goes unanswered, and that silence drives home the point.

  11. Juxtaposition

    Hughes consistently contrasts the abstract with the stark realities of war to reveal the emptiness of its ideals.

  12. Motif

    The motif of suspended or halted motion weaves through the poem, providing it with a sense of structure.