Kamikaze

The Prelude
1. The beauty of nature
  1. "small circles glittering idly in the moon"
  2. "A little boat tied to a willow tree"
  3. "melted all into one track of sparkling light"
  4. "heaving through the water like a swan"
  5. "little fishing boats strung out like bunting on a green-blue translucent sea"
    1. Beautify natural imagery used to convey the beauty of nature
  6. "pearl grey pebbles"
  7. "cloud marked mackerel"
2. The power of nature to influence humanity
  1. "a huge peak, black and huge"
    1. Personification of the "huge peak". E.g "upreared its head", "growing still" and "strode after me"
      1. Makes nature seem threatening and cruel
        Foreboding, frightening and sinister tone/atmosphere
  2. "the grim shape towered up between me and the stars"
  3. "in grave and serious mood"
  4. "there hung a darkness, call it solitude or blank desertion"
  5. "no familiar shapes remained, no pleasant images of trees"
  6. "huge and might forms, that do not live like living men, moved slowly through my mind by day, and were trouble to my dreams"
    1. Enjambement makes the poem seem breathless, and the events unstoppable
      1. Reflects the characters panic and fear and makes nature seem more terrifying
  7. "he must have looked far down at the little fishing boats strung out like bunting on a green-blue translucent sea"
    1. Beautiful natural imagery
  8. "like a huge flag waved first one way then the other in a figure of eight""
    1. "flag" relates to the patriotism that drove the pilot to suicide
      1. Symbolises how nature has become more important and influential then the "powerful incantations" that his society has drummed into him
  9. "remembered how he and his brothers ... built cairns of pearl-grey pebbles"
  10. "salt-sodden, awash with cloud-marked mackerel"
    1. Associates his family with nature, which is what brings him home
  11. "he must have wondered which had been the better way to die"
    1. Beauty of nature caused the pilot to act on impulses and emotions, and forget how society would veiw him when he returned
Poppies
1. The importance of family
  1. "Her farther embarked at sunrise"
    1. Personal pronoun "her"
      1. Shows how the narrator is distancing herself from her father
    2. Sunrise is reminiscent of the Japanese flag
      1. Represents the daughter's inner conflict between her family and her national duty
  2. "recounting it later to her children"
    1. Family is the focus of the whole poem
  3. "remembered how he and his brothers waiting on the shore built cairns of pearl grey pebbles"
    1. Memory of family brings him home
  4. bringing their father's boat safe - yes, grandfathers boat - safe to the shore"
    1. Adjective "safe" reinforces the relief and joy the pilot felt when his father returned
      1. Deep connection to family
  5. "I pinned one onto your lapel, crimped petals, spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding around your blazer"
    1. Fussing - affection and concern
      1. "Metaphor spasms of paper red"
        Violent, involuntary
        Visual and tactile imagery
    2. Blockade is militaristic - poignant reminder of the danger that her son will inevitably face
  6. "Sellotape bandaged around my hand"
    1. Affection and concern
  7. "smoothed down your shirts upturned collar"
  8. "play at being Eskimos like we did when you were little"
  9. "All my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt"
    1. Tactile
      1. Hiding emotions and fighting impulse to stop him
        shows her love and concern for her son
      2. Tender and gentle
  10. "the world overflowing like a treasure chest"
    1. Child-like simile
      1. Thinking back to her sons childhood
      2. Inability to express or contain the dangers facing her son
  11. "released a songbird from it's cage"
    1. Symoblic
  12. "leaned against it like a wishbone"
    1. Simile used to convey the desperate longing for her son to be safe
  13. "hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind"
    1. Piognat
      1. Wants to relive the time with her son
      2. Precious memories
      3. Ambiguous ending

Next up

Kamikaze

Description

Resource summary

Media attachments

Similar

	Created by Megan Vernon almost 9 years ago