Bayonet Charge

A soldier runs through bullets and, mid-run, wonders why he is there.

3 key quotes from Bayonet Charge, by Hughes. Learn this one first: “Bullets smacking the belly out of the air” (Hughes, Bayonet Charge).

This poem in five words

Soldierrunsaskswhy

Hide these. Ask the class for their five. Then show them. Then play today's sentence.

The quotes

3 big quotes in this poem.

Bullets smacking the belly out of the air

Hughes · Bayonet Charge · conflict

Bullets punch the air itself. The soldier runs through it.

In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations

Hughes · Bayonet Charge · conflict · power of humans

Mid-run he wonders what machine put him here. Stars, nations, cold clockwork. He is a part in it.

King, honour, human dignity, etcetera

Hughes · Bayonet Charge · conflict · power of humans

The big words for why he is fighting. Etcetera. They fall away when the bullets come.