Kamikaze (AQA GCSE English Literature)
Revision Note
Each poetry anthology at GCSE contains 15 poems, and in your exam question you will be given one poem - printed in full - and asked to compare this printed poem to another. As this is a closed-book exam, you will not have access to the second poem, so you will have to know it from memory. Fifteen poems are a lot to revise. However, understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-grade response:
The meaning of the poem
The ideas and messages of the poet
How the poet conveys these ideas through their methods
How do these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas of other poets in the anthology
Below is a guide to Beatrice Garland’s poem 'Kamikaze', from the Power and Conflict anthology. 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
Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam
Overview
In order to answer an essay question on any poem it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:
The poem in a nutshell
A ‘translation’ of the poem, section-by-section
A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Garland’s intention and message
Kamikaze in a nutshell
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 breakdown
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. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Garland’s intentions behind her choices in terms of:
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 wide-reaching 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 |
Suffering due to conflict | 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 |
Conflict and identity | 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 | ||
Sacrifice | 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 |
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 power or conflict. This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Garland explores:
Loss due to 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
Powerlessness due to conflict
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”
What to Compare it to
The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents ideas about power, or conflict, in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that Kamikaze explores the ideas of loss due to conflict and powerlessness due to conflict, the following comparisons are the most appropriate:
For each pair of poems, you will find:
The comparison in a nutshell
Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem
Differences between the ideas presented in each poem
Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences
Kamikaze and Poppies
Comparison in a nutshell:
Both Kamikaze and Poppies convey personal and individual loss due to conflict by presenting the perspectives of family members. The poems explore ideas related to bravery and honour, and how these values can lead to a sense of powerlessness for all involved in the conflict.
Similarities:
Topic sentence | Both poems show the effects of loss on family members due to conflict | |
Evidence and analysis | Kamikaze | Poppies |
Kamikaze shows the perspective of a family member after the war, in this case, a daughter, narrating a story about their father, a Kamikaze pilot | Similarly, in Poppies the poet shows the effect of loss on those left behind by presenting the perspective of a parent grieving their son’s death in war | |
In Garland’s poem, the perspective alternates between the father’s evocative memories as he leaves for war, and the daughter’s recounting of responses to his return | Weir uses enjambment (run on lines) to present a parent’s emotional and evocative stream of consciousness: a free-flowing memory about their son’s childhood | |
The shift from the personal and emotional pain of the father as he chooses to live rather than die contrasts with the pragmatic retelling of the division of the family on his return | Although, at points, Weir changes the tone with caesurae to break the flow, signifying the parent’s disrupted and emotional break in the voice | |
The speaker in Kamikaze uses sensory imagery to describe intimate moments the father remembers about his past as he flies to war | The speaker in Poppies also uses sensory imagery to describe intimate moments of the son’s childhood which the parent misses: “Graze my nose across the tip of your nose” | |
The pain of loss is presented in both poems by showing personal memories and perspectives of loved ones involved in a war | ||
Topic sentence | Both poets represent powerlessness of those involved in conflict | |
Evidence and analysis | Kamikaze | Poppies |
Powerlessness is shown via Kamikaze’s reflective tone which shifts perspectives from third-person (“he must have wondered which had been the better way to die”) to a first-person plural (“the father we loved”) The reflections shift perspective to convey the different ways the family members respond | Powerlessness of a family member is expressed in Poppies through the reflective tone of a dramatic monologue It is delivered by a parent in a direct address to their dead son: “hoping to hear your playground voice” | |
It could be argued that both speakers convey the individual’s sense of powerlessness after conflict as they reflect on their experience of loss | ||
Garland presents the daughter’s powerlessness through sensory imagery related to sound: “we too learned to be silent”, suggesting the daughter’s broken relationship with her father was not autonomous and without clear resolution | Weir represents the parent’s powerlessness to be with their son again using sensory imagery to end the poem without any resolution: the parent is left listening for their son’s voice on the wind | |
Differences:
Topic sentence | While both poets suggest that conflict leads to powerlessness, the poems present different attitudes to war | |
Evidence and analysis | Kamikaze | Poppies |
In Kamikaze, the father doubts his role in war | In Poppies, however, the parent suggests the son was innocent to the realities of war | |
The metaphor, “the world overflowing like a treasure chest”, connotes to ideas of war bringing glory and adventure | ||
The father is convinced by his memories to return home instead of dying for his country | Here, the parent describes their son as “intoxicated” with war, implying he was poisoned with the patriotic ideas associated with it | |
The parent experiences loss because he is alienated by his family for refusing to sacrifice himself for his country | Here, however, the parent experiences grief as a result of the son’s enthusiasm for conflict | |
Kamikaze and War Photographer
Comparison in a nutshell:
This is an effective comparative choice to explore the impact of conflict on those other than soldiers themselves. Both Garland’s Kamikaze and Duffy’s War Photographer present unconventional perspectives and descriptions of the experience of conflict.
Similarities:
Topic sentence | Both poems show that conflict has wide-reaching influence by showing particular individuals affected by it | |
Evidence and analysis | Kamikaze | War Photographer |
An unconventional experience of conflict is presented through a narration of a daughter telling her children a story about her father, a kamikaze pilot | Similarly, Duffy shows the experience of grief from the perspective of a war photographer developing photographs and remembering what he has seen | |
Garland’s poem is structured to represent the father’s personal reflections as he flies over his homeland on his way to a suicide mission | Duffy’s poem represents the photographer’s personal grief through disjointed flashbacks as he remembers those who have suffered in conflict: “running children in a nightmare heat” | |
However, Garland shifts perspective: the story is told from the daughter’s perspective as she reflects on her father’s choices and the impact of them | Duffy’s persona feels displaced back at home in “Rural England”. He describes their experience of pain as ordinary in comparison to what he has seen | |
The poems both present the effects of conflict on individuals involved with conflict around the world, as well its continuing impact afterwards | ||
The daughter’s unresolved feelings about her father’s decision are shown at the end of the poem as she acknowledges, “he must have wondered which was the better way to die” | The poem ends with the line “they do not care” suggesting a lack of resolution for the speaker, and continuing suffering due to conflict | |
The poems consider the experience of grief as a solitary one; they convey the isolation of the parent and the photographer in their settings | ||
Both poets wish to raise awareness of the effect of conflict on individual lives beyond the battlefields, at home or at work
| ||
Differences:
Topic sentence | While Garland chooses to show a strong patriotic response to the conflict in her poem Kamikaze, Duffy’s War Photographer presents an impassive and apathetic public | |
Evidence and analysis | Kamikaze | War Photographer |
Garland shows us a different perspective on patriotism by conveying the father’s love for country and heritage: seeing it below makes him turn away from his military duty | Duffy’s omniscient speaker allows the reader insight into the photographer’s thoughts about the futility of his work and frustration with his peers at home | |
He adopts a bitter tone towards his homeland, suggesting they are apathetic and disinterested in conflict: “The reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.” | ||
Garland’s persona has strong positive emotions for his homeland and past. However, Duffy’s persona conveys feelings of resignation and detachment from his homeland | ||
The speaker describes how his family and neighbours strongly oppose his decision, and alienate him for disobeying his patriotic military duties | In contrast, Garland’s speaker takes on a cynical tone, suggesting the photographs of conflict do not evoke emotion at home: “his editor will pick out five or six for Sunday’s supplement” | |
She emphasises, with repetition, their extreme response: “as though he no longer existed” and “this was no longer the father we loved” | A detached speaker comments on the lack of interest at home: “stares impassively at where/he earns his living and they do not care” | |
Though the reactions of those at home are different, each poem presents lasting isolation for individuals involved in the conflict | ||
Kamikaze and Remains
Comparison in a nutshell:
Both Garland’s Kamikaze and Armitage’s Remains highlight the unrelenting nature of isolation and personal loss. The poems present speakers who feel powerless within conflict and in the wake of it.
Similarities:
Topic sentence | Both poems highlight isolation and loss after conflict as a result of decisions during war | |
Evidence and analysis | Kamikaze | Remains |
In Kamikaze, Garland uses the third-person to describe how the family alienates him after he returns home: “They treated him as though he no longer existed” | On the other hand, in Remains, Armitage uses a first-person voice to present the isolation of the soldier himself
| |
The speaker adopts a reflective tone to indicate her father’s thoughts as he flies over his homeland | The speaker’s tone is disjointed with caesurae and varied sentence lengths to reflect his brutal and haunting memories: “pain itself, the image of agony”
| |
The enjambment weaves emotion into an otherwise detached third-person perspective, suggesting unresolved feelings between the daughter and her father | ||
Garland’s speaker, the pilot’s daughter, uses first-person plural pronouns at the end to allude to the personal loss the children felt losing their father: “We too learned to be silent, to live as though he had never returned” | While the start of the poem uses first-person plural pronouns (“all three of us open fire”), this changes to his individual perspective when he returns home (“I see every round as it rips through his life –”): this suggests the isolation he feels after conflict | |
The speaker in Remains is left in the “here and now” without resolution (“end of the story. Except not really”), while the speaker in Kamikaze is left wondering if her father has any regrets | ||
The poem’s speakers are both caught between the present and past, suggesting the relentless nature of their isolation and the far-reaching impact of conflict | ||
Differences:
Topic sentence | While both poets explore the negative impact of conflict on individuals, the poets choose to present different experiences of war and regret | |
Evidence and analysis | Kamikaze | Remains |
In Kamikaze, the pilot chooses not to engage in conflict, reminded of his love for family and homeland as he flies to a suicide mission | However, in Remains, the first-person speaker has a flashback to a moment during battle which haunts him, suggesting he regrets his actions in conflict | |
His decision leads to dishonour and isolation from his family and neighbours for what they believe are cowardly actions | His doubts are presented in the repetition of the line, “probably armed, possibly not”, implying he has considered he may have killed an innocent man | |
Kamikaze presents the perspective of an alienated kamikaze pilot choosing family and home over his military duty, whereas Remains shows a soldier’s trauma after war for engaging in his military duty | ||
Garland’s speaker considers his decision at the end of the poem: suggesting her father may have regretted his decision: “He must have wondered which had been the better way to die” | Armitage’s poet persona is haunted by this moment: “I see every round as it rips through his life” | |
Both poems comment on the powerlessness experienced by those involved | ||
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