Themes 2
English Lit: AQA GCSE Poetry - Power & Conflict, topic 9.1.3
Challenging Ideals
Hughes uses the poem to challenge traditional patriotic ideals. The ideals of glory, honour, and serving one’s country are shown to be irrelevant and meaningless when faced with the horrors of war. Hughes uses the following techniques to explore this theme:
Simile
- "The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye / Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”.
- The soldier’s patriotic ideals are useless now he is faced with the reality of conflict.
- The contrast between “brimmed”, with its positive connotations of abundance and pride, and “sweating” highlights this contrast.
One soldier
- Only the soldier is described.
- This is startling, as war would be a place full of people.
- Hughes’ decision not to mention any other people intensifies the sense of the soldier’s isolation.
- It also highlights the idea that everything other than his own fear has become irrelevant.
Listing
- The poet lists things that seemed important to the soldier before the war – “King, honour, human dignity, etcetera / Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm / To get out of that blue crackling air”.
- The poet lists them to show how futile all these things now are when faced with death.
- The pointlessness of these things is reinforced through the choice of the word “etcetera”.
Soliders as Machines
The soldier seems conditioned to fight. He becomes machine-like in his movement towards the enemy. Hughes uses the following techniques to highlight the inhumane and machine-like qualities of the solider:
Simile
- “The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye / Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”.
- Comparing the tears to iron dehumanises the soldier and likens him to something mechanical.
- The phrase "Sweating like molten iron" in the quote does not refer to physical sweating. Instead, it is a metaphorical description of the tear that has welled up in the soldier's eye.
Juxtaposition
- The juxtaposition of natural images with mechanical ones highlights the conflict and contrast between man and nature.
- E.g. “green hedge / that dazzled with rifle fire”.
Test yourself on Themes 2
Which two words in this quote highlight the contrast between patriotic ideals and the horrors of war?
"The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye / Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”Which two words in the quote below create a contrast?
"The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye / Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”What makes the soldier seem mechanical in this quote?
“The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye / Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest”