Kamikaze (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature): Revision Note
Exam code: C720
Kamikaze
Below is a guide to Beatrice Garland’s poem 'Kamikaze'. It includes:
Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
Historical and literary context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
Linking the poems: an understanding of how 'Kamikaze' connects to other poems in the Eduqas GCSE English Literature Poetry Anthology
Overview
In order to answer an essay question on any poem it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:
An overview of the poem
A ‘translation’ of the poem, section-by-section
A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Garland’s intention and message
'Kamikaze' overview
'Kamikaze' was written by the poet Beatrice Garland in a bid to explore the reasons why soldiers choose to, or are asked to, die for their country. Garland’s poem 'Kamikaze' presents the perspectives of both the kamikaze pilot and his daughter to show their different ideas about conflict.
'Kamikaze' translation
Lines 1-3
“Her father embarked at sunrise
with a flask of water, a samurai sword
in the cockpit, a shaven head”
Translation
The poem begins by reporting an event from a daughter’s perspective: a father leaves on a journey
The speaker mentions a list which details the pilot’s belongings and the ritualistic shaved head of a kamikaze pilot
Garland’s intention
Garland begins her poem with a description of the pilot boarding his aeroplane to show the personal perspective of his experience:
The reference to the ritual a kamikaze pilot undertakes before boarding tells readers the pilot is on a suicide mission for his country
Lines 4-6
“full of powerful incantations
and enough fuel for a one-way
journey into history”
Translation
Garland refers again to the ritual: the pilot is repeating patriotic chants (“incantations”)
The speaker tells the reader that this is a suicide mission which will lead to glory for the pilot, that he will be respected always for his sacrifice
Garland’s intention
Here, Garland refers to the power behind the chants of honour and glory which the pilot repeats to complete his military duty
Garland’s speaker lets readers know that this suicide mission is one of patriotism, that he has been called to carry out an important duty
Lines 7-8
“but half way there, she thought,
recounting it later to her children,”
Translation
The speaker is the pilot’s daughter who is telling the story to her children
She continues the story of the father, suggesting that something changes “half way there”
Garland’s intention
Garland alerts readers that this is a story being told by a mother to her children about her own father, showing the perspective of family members during and after conflict
The break in stanza pauses the story and, with the conjunction “but”, the speaker highlights something changed on the pilot’s journey, that he had doubts about his duties
Lines 9-12
“he must have looked far down
at the little fishing boats
strung out like bunting
on a green-blue translucent sea”
Translation
Here, the speaker of the story recounts to her children what she imagines about the pilot’s journey: she guesses he looked down on the ocean from his aeroplane
Garland’s intention
The lines convey a tone of nostalgia as the pilot leaves his home behind
Garland explores the pilot’s thoughts and feelings in a bid to understand his experience:
The speaker suggests the father may have felt emotional, homesick perhaps, as he sees the beautiful ocean
Lines 13-16
“and beneath them, arcing in swathes
like a huge flag waved first one way
then the other in a figure of eight,
the dark shoals of fishes”
Translation
The speaker describes the scene below: the pilot can see the shadows of fish swimming under the water:
Now the pilot can see a darker shadow of fish beneath the water
Garland describes the size and magnitude of the shoals of fish with the word “swathes” which means ‘a broad area’
Garland’s intention
These lines contrast the earlier positive description of the scene:
This description could convey darker thoughts in the pilot’s mind, suggesting he doubts his part in the conflict
The fish shoals are described as a flag, like a warning to him
Lines 17-20
“flashing silver as their bellies
swivelled towards the sun
and remembered how he
and his brothers waiting on the shore”
Translation
The speaker describes the fish turning, now silver and bright in the sun
This reminds him of his childhood, fishing with his brothers
Garland’s intention
These lines depict the darker thoughts being replaced with brighter memories of the pilot’s childhood
The fish seem to signal to the pilot as they turn and flash in the sun, suggesting nature reminds him of what is important
Lines 21 - 24
“built cairns of pearl-grey pebbles
to see whose withstood longest
the turbulent inrush of breakers
bringing their father’s boat safe”
Translation
The speaker tells us the pilot remembers how he built small graves of stone with his brother
He describes how he and his brother competed to see whose grave withstood the crash of waves as they brought the boat in
Garland’s intention
The pilot’s memories remind him of family, and of death
Here, Garland shows how the pilot remembers small intimate details of his past which help him realise the power of nature and the importance of family
Lines 25-30
“- yes, grandfather’s boat – safe
to the shore, salt-sodden, awash
with cloud-marked mackerel,
black crabs, feathery prawns,
the loose silver of whitebait and once
a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.”
Translation
The speaker begins to list all the fish they would catch fishing together as a family
The pilot remembers catching a tuna, a strong and powerful fish
Garland’s intention
The disrupted rhythm here begins a stream of consciousness:
The descriptions convey the vivid memory the pilot has as he looks down on the water where he fished with his family
The speaker refers to the dark and powerful tuna, alluding to ideas of strength and power with a metaphor of "dark prince":
However, Garland gives this power to nature, not the pilot: this subverts ideas relating to military strength and power
Lines 31-33
“And though he came back
my mother never spoke again
in his presence, nor did she meet his eyes”
Translation
The speaker explains that the pilot did return home; he did not complete his mission
However, his return was not welcomed by the speaker's mother, the pilot’s wife
Garland’s intention
Garland shows the power of the pilot’s childhood memories and love for his home: he returns, choosing not to die in conflict
The perspective of the speaker’s mother is unexpected perhaps: she is disgraced by his return and his disobedience towards his duty to his country:
Garland comments on the culture of honour and patriotism
She conveys the extreme response of individuals when soldiers defy cultural values
Lines 34-36
“and the neighbours too, they treated him
as though he no longer existed,
only we children still chattered and laughed”
Translation
The speaker explains that other people responded similarly: the neighbours alienated the pilot
The children did not understand these ideas, and continued as before
Garland’s intention
Garland shows how powerful the values of honour and glory are for the pilot’s neighbours, so strong that they ignore and ostracise him
Garland explores how children respond differently, suggesting patriotism is learned behaviour
Lines 37-40
“till gradually we too learned
to be silent, to live as though
he had never returned, that this
was no longer the father we loved.”
Translation
The speaker explains that the children were told to ignore their father too
The lines here depict the way the children were taught to deny him as a father
Garland’s intention
Garland shows an example of children being taught to mimic the ideas of their elders
Her poem explores family conflicts as a result of cultural ideals regarding patriotism
Lines 41-42
“And sometimes, she said, he must have wondered
which had been the better way to die.”
Translation
The speaker ends the poem with her own reflections
She considers the huge price her father paid for returning home instead of sacrificing his life for his country:
She considers his life afterwards to be a metaphorical death too
Garland’s intention
Garland comments on the sacrifice the father had to make whether or not he completed his suicide mission to explore the impact of patriotic values on family
She ends the poem with a poignant comment which shifts the narration from the external to the internal: the ending suggests unresolved emotions
Writer’s methods
Although this section is organised into three separate sections - form, structure and language - it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have.
Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. In the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Garland’s intentions behind her choices in terms of:
Form
Structure
Language
Form
The poem is a seven stanza narration told from a third-person perspective. The daughter recounts the journey of her father, a kamikaze pilot, and the family’s perspective on his ‘dishonourable’ return.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
The impact of conflict | The story of the pilot’s journey is told from his daughter’s perspective in third person to convey the impact on family members | The poem shows the detached perspective of those left behind: this creates a distance between the daughter and her father to depict the barriers in their relationship and the resulting isolation |
The narration shifts briefly to first person at the end when the daughter describes the response to the father’s decision to come home: “no longer the father we loved” | Garland’s narrative shifts offer different versions of events: the father as he remembers his childhood and the daughter’s - both as a child and as an adult | |
The perspective returns to third person to complete the poem: “And sometimes, she said, he must have wondered which had been the better way to die” | The ending conveys the isolation created within the family due to conflict and suggests the daughter’s loss as well as the father’s |
Structure
The poem follows a rigid and ordered structure which represents both the rigidity of the family towards the father and the strict discipline of military duty.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Memory and reflection | The poem has a rigid structure of six lines per stanza | The structure reflects the idea of order and discipline, linking to the cultural and military values Garland explores in her poem |
However, at times, the poem shifts to free-flowing verse shown via enjambment, to represent the pilot’s thoughts and memories | Garland juxtaposes the controlled voice of the speaker with the reflective tone of the father reminiscing about his childhood | |
Garland shows the father as less controlled by ideas of patriotism, disobeying the strict rules of his culture | ||
The poem ends with the word ‘die’, emphasising the daughter’s powerful reflection: “He must have wondered which was the better way to die” | This highlights his isolation and suffering as a result of his decision to return home instead of sacrificing his life | |
The daughter, too, is left without resolution | ||
Garland alludes to the sacrifice and suffering of the entire family as result of conflict |
Language
Garland weaves imagery alluding to the beauty and power of nature alongside images related to conflict, in particular, that of the Japanese kamikaze pilot. This conveys the emotions of the pilot as he battles with his decision to fight for his country or return to it.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Memory and reflection | The poem begins with a list referring to the ritual undertaken by kamikaze pilots: “with a flask of water, a samurai sword in the cockpit, a shaven head” | Garland alludes to the powerful nationalistic messages the pilot received, and perhaps relies upon, to complete his mission, as he chants his “powerful incantations”
|
The speaker compares the boats in the ocean to bunting in a “blue-green translucent sea”, to describe the scene below as a positive one | The simile Garland uses connotes to the pilot’s love for his beautiful homeland and perhaps to the idea of victory and celebration | |
Garland contrasts the positive imagery with a description of a dark shoal of fish who seem to alert the pilot to something: the dark “swathes” of fish wave like a flag and flash at the pilot | Garland’s simile here contrasts the positive imagery of before | |
Here, her comparison of the fish to a flag suggests the pilot’s thoughts turn darker, and that nature is signalling to him | ||
Garland illustrates the power of nature and family to reverse the nationalistic ideals the pilot has been taught | ||
The speaker, indirectly speaking on behalf of the pilot, lists the fish he used to catch with his family when he was young: “cloud-marked mackerel, black crabs, feathery prawns, the loose silver of whitebait” | The sensory nature of the father’s vivid memories evokes sympathy from the reader | |
Garland shows that the speaker thinks about her father despite their alienated relationship: this implies a sacrifice made on both their parts |
Historical and literary context
Examiners repeatedly state that context should not be considered as additional factual information: in this case, it is not random biographical information about Beatrice Garland, or historical facts about kamikaze pilots that are unrelated to the ideas in 'Kamikaze'.
The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Garland in 'Kamikaze' which relate to its key themes. This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Garland explores:
The impact of conflict
Memory and reflection
The impact of conflict
Garland’s 'Kamikaze' is one of a collection of poems in an anthology which considers, among other themes, family loss due to cultural divides:
In 'Kamikaze', Garland chose to explore the nationalistic values of Japanese kamikaze pilots and their families, and how this may lead to family conflict:
During World War II, Japan adopted a strategy of attacking enemy targets with suicide bombers known as kamikaze pilots
Japanese culture is closely connected to honour and bravery above all
An individual’s dishonourable actions will reflect poorly on their friends and family
This poem considers the experience of a kamikaze pilot: a father chooses to return home instead of completing his mission, thus defying social and cultural expectations:
This leads to his isolation as his family turns their back on him
The poem explores the loss the family suffers through the perspective of his daughter:
Neither the daughter nor her own children have the father in their lives
Garland explores how the cultural values her family support, that of honour and duty to country above all else, lead to divisions
Memory and reflection
Garland’s poem considers the social pressure placed upon soldiers via the perspective of a father leaving home and contemplating his death:
By showing the father’s doubts about his military duty, readers see a human side of war, regardless of which side a soldier is on
Garland’s father is alienated and ignored due to his choice to return: the father is powerless to be with his family again regardless of his decision
Garland challenges cultural values regarding patriotism by presenting a daughter and her siblings as powerless to defy their mother’s wishes:
They are told to turn their back on their father and they obey
Garland questions this by presenting the daughter’s unresolved reflections:
She tells her own children about their grandfather in his absence
She acknowledges that her father was powerless in his situation: “He must have wondered which was the better way to die”
Linking the poems
The Eduqas GCSE English Literature exam asks you to compare two poems from the anthology. You will be given the text of one poem in the question paper, but you will need to compare this with another poem of your choice, one that comments on the particular theme in the question. It stands to reason, then, that it will be a good idea to understand your anthology poems according to their themes.
Here, you will find a guided list of poems that work well together, and how they are linked by a common theme. Do remember, though, the list below is not exhaustive and themes and ideas often overlap.
The poems you could link with Garland's 'Kamikaze' are:
'Disabled' by Wilfred Owen
'Remains' by Simon Armitage
'War Photographer' by Carol Ann Duffy
'Drummer Hodge' by Thomas Hardy
'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud' by William Wordsworth
'I Shall Return' by Claude McKay
'Origin Story' by Eve L. Ewing
The impact of conflict | |||
|---|---|---|---|
'Disabled' | 'Remains' | 'War Photographer' | 'Drummer Hodge' |
Both poems tragically illustrate how surviving a conflict can lead to a devastating "social" death and isolation | Compare how the impact of conflict fundamentally destroys the concept of "home" | Compare the profound alienation that returning from conflict causes. Both poems explore the painful disconnect and lack of empathy between those who experience the extremes of conflict and the civilians safely at home | The contrast between physical death and metaphorical death; both poems present conflict as an unforgiving force that completely strips a person of their future, dignity and identity |
Memory and reflection | |||
|---|---|---|---|
'Remains' | 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud' | 'I Shall Return' | 'Origin Story' |
Both poems demonstrate the overwhelming, life-altering power of memory | Compare how reflecting on nature affects the speaker; while Wordsworth's reflections bring spiritual salvation, the kamikaze pilot's reflections lead to a life of silent misery | Both poems demonstrate how reflecting on the natural beauty of one's homeland can act as a powerful psychological anchor | Compare how memory is passed down to make sense of complex family history |
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