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Grade Nine exemplar: Comparing Charge of the Light Brigade vs Kamikaze
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Grade Nine exemplar: Comparing Charge of the Light Brigade vs Kamikaze
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Ideas about war are presented in both Kamikaze and Charge of the Light Brigade (COTLB). COTLB, byLord Alfred Tennyson, leads us through the moments during the Crimean war where “six hundred”
soldiers are misdirected, leading to the deaths of many British soldiers. On the other hand, Kamikaze
by Beatrice Garland explores the “journey” of a Kamikaze pilot in Japan who has been sent out on a
suicide mission during World War Two. The speaker of the poem is the pilot’s daughter, who
imagines what he was thinking when he decided to turn back the plane.
The poem describes the “six hundred” in war, and immediately the reader can tell that they have
been misled with the phrase “someone had blundered”. This is crucially followed by the anaphora of
the phrase “theirs not to”, highlighting that at this moment the soldiers are also aware of the
mistake and make the decision to continue fighting – “theirs but to do and die”. They enter the jaws
of “Death”, this metaphor both foreshadowing their fate and amplifying their loyalty and bravery as
they are aware that they are sacrificing themselves. Also, biblical references such as “Death” and
“Hell” are used to celebrate the extent and sacrifice of the bravery of the soldiers. They are
celebrated as patriotic, and their act is presented by Tennyson as godly (Christian). Throughout the
poem, the soldiers are only referred to as a collective union, “six hundred”, showing the collective
bravery, loyalty and patriotism and the poem is six stanzas, possibly to represent six hundred
soldiers reinforcing that they are to be admired and celebrated. Therefore, Tennyson explores the
effects of war on a soldier’s feelings of loyalty to their country.
The poem Kamikaze by Beatrice Garland involves a Kamikaze pilot in his plane with a “samurai
sword” and “shaven head”, these cultural images highlighting that he is making a sacrifice for his
country. He only has “fuel” for a “one way journey into history”, clearly showing that this would
have been an effective act of patriotism. Towards the beginning of the poem, the conjunction “but”
is used, which is possibly the pivot of the poem, the moment where he starts to consider turning
back, and he supposedly looks down and sees fishing boats “like bunting” and “shoals of fishes”
looking like a “huge flag”. These patriotic similes cleverly reflect his thoughts process of having to
choose between his family or dying for his country. However, he then sees shoals of fishes swimming
in a “figure of eight” - their repetitive cyclical motion not only represents his conflicting thoughts,
but the collectivity of the fishes would remind him of his family. He remembered his childhood
memories waiting for his father's boat to return and then notices a tuna amongst a variety of fish.
This image of a single tuna could represent him feeling isolated from his family or could represent
him being different compared to culture expectations - as he turns the plane around, with the
adjective “dangerous” reinforcing this. The poem is made up of seven, tightly controlled standards
possibly representing the tight rules he must follow however this is opposed by the free verse
rhyming structure, possibly representing his conflicting loyalties as an effect of war. Therefore, unlike
COTLB, Garland presents the effects of war on a soldier’s feelings of conflicted loyalties, as he must
decide between returning to his family or dying for his country.
Soon after the Crimean war, the British media looked down upon the soldiers, seeing their sacrifice
not as an act of bravery but failure. Thus, this poem perhaps acts as a form of propaganda as he
implores a praiseful and honouring tone. He uses anaphora on the phase “cannon to the…”, to
amplify their bravery, and writes that the brave soldiers “fought so well”. The poem has a dactylic
diameter rhythm, similar to a horses gallop, thus glorifying the war. The line “not the six hundred”
suggests that they have died and “all the world wondered” showing that they were /should be
admired. Tennyson uses poetry to urge us to view the soldiers’ differently, and “honour the light
brigade”.
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