Compare how poets explore identity in 'Bayonet Charge' and one other

poem from the power and conflict cluster

In both ‘Bayonet Charge’ and ‘Exposure’ the writers present Identity as a powerful thing that is
supressed by war, the military and the very act of fighting that must be regained if we are to ever stop
having wars. In ‘Bayonet charge’ this is done by establishing the chaos and confusion war brings to
cloud the soldiers thoughts. However in ‘Exposure’ this is done by establishing a strict, uniform,
regimented element of war which serves to restrict and confine the ideas of the men.

The writer begins ‘Bayonet Charge in Media Res, when the soldier is “suddenly” thrown into battle.
This adverb could be to startle the reader and mimic the situation the soldiers were thrown into,
where they had to just get into action with little or no forethought or even experience, as
demonstrated when the soldier is described as “raw, in raw-seamed hot khaki”. “raw” is used as both a
noun and an adjective through repetition. This offers two interpretations: it could emphasise how
unprepared and inexperienced the soldier is or alternatively, raw has connotations to meat,
suggesting that the soldiers are being used as pieces of meat, or objects by generals with no real care
for their identity or even life. ‘Exposure’ begins with the phrase “our brains ache” which could highlight
how, due to this war, the soldiers can’t even think for themselves, therefore losing their identity and
what makes them unique It could also be an allusion, to John Keats Ode to a
Nightingale which begins ‘our hearts ache’. This could be to further establish how it’s not only physical
torment that’s making them suffer, but also mental and emotional torment.

In ‘Exposure’ the writer uses the personal pronouns “we” and “us”, which establish a sense of unity and
a common goal among the soldiers – to survive. However, they also generalise the soldiers and
remove their singular identity, removing the very thing that makes them human allowing them to be
used by their superiors. Later on, in the penultimate line, there is a volta when the pronoun changes to
“their” accentuating the division between the dead and the living – their only identification at that
moment. However, in Bayonet Charge the writer uses the personal pronoun “he” in third person.
Illustrating how the experiences of any soldier are not personal or unique. It could also be used to
convey how the experiences of soldiers are not their own, but manipulated and falsified by whoever
happens to be documenting them.

In ‘Bayonet Charge’ there is an extended metaphor of the soldier being compared to machinery and
“cold clockwork”. Highlighting how the soldier has been so brainwashed and drilled that he has
nothing of his original self and identity left – he is nothing more than a robot programmed to follow
orders, without question. The alliteration of the phrase could additionally represent the coldness and
detachment the soldier has from himself This is further emphasised by the simile “he lugged a rifle as
numb as a smashed arm” demonstrating how the gun is physically part of him. Furthermore, the
adjective “numb” could portray how this has become second nature to him already, just moments into
the battle. Or it could be indicative of his emotional numbness towards the chaos surrounding him, as
if he's cutting himself off. As well as this, he is described to have “molten iron” at the centre of his
chest, where the heart is, so the fact that even this has succumbed to the power of machinery
exaggerates how severe and permanent the impact of war is on soldiers identities.. Similarly, in
‘Exposure’ there is an extended metaphor of nature being compared to the military, such as when its
described as a “melancholy army” and contains “ranks on shivering ranks”. This could show how the
impact of war and the army has such a deep effect, that it even alters and manipulates the behaviours
of nature, as if was the fighting itself who influenced nature to attack the very soldiers who began it –
a self-fulfilling cycle that can only be broken when the soldiers collectively begin to question who they
are and what their singular identities are. The adjective “shivering” could also suggest nature has now
mirrored the organisation of the soldiers and is stealing or mimicking their identity and has become
so immersed in it, that its become detached from its own identity and is now suffering from the
effects that it brought about. Implying, that not even the identity of the most powerful thing in the
poem is safe, let alone the weak, insignificant soldiers.

‘Exposure’ is written in present tense, which could emphasise the continuous and never ending
struggle they must endure. It could also portray how the soldiers have to be constantly thinking, and
in the present for them to survive, so cannot think of anything besides survival – being a ‘soldier’,
thereby stripping them of their identity. In contrast, ‘Bayonet Charge’ is written in past tense,
potentially to represent the lack of importance and identity soldiers possess and how easily they can
be forgotten – as if was an afterthought. It could also be to represent the futility of war and how just
becomes something written in a history book, scarcely remembered by any.

‘Bayonet Charge’ doesn’t contain a rhyming scheme. This could be to illustrate how chaotic and
unstructured war is, which even affects the soldiers thought process as he considers the meaning of
his being there, clearly showing that even his identity itself is corrupted by the chaos of war. This
could be further emphasised by the lack of a syllabic structure and the excessive of use of
enjambment throughout the poem. However, Exposure has a strict rhyme scheme of ABBAC and 5
line stanzas which could portray how the soldiers thoughts are restricted and organised that they are
controlled by war, perhaps showing that his experiences have limited his thoughts, and therefore
identity to just one idea – survival.

In juxtaposition to this view, the progression and interleaving of the 5th lines of each stanza
throughout the poem suggest the opposite. There is a refrain of “But nothing happens” throughout
the poem. Repeatedly starting sentences with the conjunction “but” could create a sense of
uneasiness and disjointed thoughts & ideas. It could also suggest that the soldier is surprised each
time, which is ironic as the whole poem is about that very idea – the fact that he’s surprised could
point to him either not understanding what’s happening or forcing himself to keep reminding
himself that nothing is happening: both suggest that he is unable to think properly or gain any clarity
to the situation he’s in. This is interleaved by rhetorical questions such as “Is it that we are dying
here?” and “What are we doing here?” as if the soldier is coming out of a form of hypnosis put on
him by his superiors, driving back to basic existentialism, could be encouraging the reader to
consider their own beliefs and identity and why they do what they are doing – because they want to,
because its moral and right or because they were simply told to? However, as the last line is a repeat
of the phrase “But nothing happens” this could be indicative of how this protesting and questioning
is ultimately futile, and will just end in a repeating cycle of returning back to old, ingrained belief
systems – perhaps a criticism of organised belief systems such as religion or patriarchy and how they
supress peoples identity. Similarly, in ‘Bayonet Charge’ it describes how the soldier “almost stopped”
and was in “mid-stride” as if the power of his identity and him questioning everything he believes in
is still not enough to overcome the deeply ingrained set of orders he was given to follow, despite the
overwhelming sense of chaos he was thrown into, which one could assume could override these
orders by themselves.