New
New
Year 10
AQA
Understanding the poem 'Bayonet Charge'
I can explain how Hughes presents the enduring impact of war.
New
New
Year 10
AQA
Understanding the poem 'Bayonet Charge'
I can explain how Hughes presents the enduring impact of war.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- ‘Bayonet Charge’ depicts a soldier in the midst of a harrowing battle.
- ‘Bayonet Charge’ exposes how war damages people, innocence and the natural world.
- Hughes’ intention may be to criticise the patriotic ideals surrounding war and expose the true horrors of war.
- Hughes may have based his poem on his father’s stories of WW1 .
- Hughes' fathers stories were so vivid that Hughes felt he himself had witnessed the apocalyptic carnage.
Keywords
Patriotic - having devotion or love for one’s country
Dehumanise - deprive someone of the qualities that make them human
Harrowing - highly distressing
Common misconception
Poetry about war is always based on first-hand experience.
Many poems about war are from the perspective of family members who are also impacted by their loved ones going to war.
You can supplement the answers to some of the questions in the lesson with more quotes from the poem.
Teacher tip
Equipment
You will need access to a copy of the AQA Power and Conflict Anthology for this lesson.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on
Open Government Licence version 3.0
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).Lesson video
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Starter quiz
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6 Questions
Q1.
What does the word 'patriotic' mean?
to feel hate for one’s country
to feel indifferent towards one's country
Q2.
World War I was between which years?
1913-1917
1914-1917
1915-1918
Q3.
What 'C' is being described here: 'information we have about the cultural, social or historical events at the time a text was written.'?
Q4.
What is being described here: 'the writer's is the reason or purpose they are writing.'?
Q5.
What does the word 'harrowing' mean?
deprive someone of the qualities that make them human
being unsure of your surroundings
Q6.
What do we mean by 'natural imagery' when used by a writer?
these are images which are well known so will occur to the reader naturally
these are images which naturally occur to the writer
Exit quiz
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6 Questions
Q1.
Match the key terms to their definitions.
having devotion or love for one’s country
deprive someone of the qualities that make them human
highly distressing
Q2.
How might you summarise the mood of the first stanza of 'Bayonet Charge'?
peaceful
patriotic
Q3.
How does the pace of 'Bayonet Charge' change between stanza 1 and stanza 2 of the poem?
stanza 1 is action-filled but it reaches a climax in stanza 2
stanza 1 is action-filled but stanza 2 is emotional as the soldier has stopped
Q4.
In which year was 'Bayonet Charge' written?
1918
1947
1915
Q5.
In 'Bayonet Charge' Hughes shows that war not only damages people but also...
the economy.
the morals of the soldiers.
Q6.
What might Hughes' intention have been in writing 'Bayonet Charge'?
to memorialise the soldiers who fought in the war
to act as a release after his experience in the war