Year 9 Assessment Unseen Poetry: Practice Exam

Read the poem below very carefully and answer the questions that follow. You
will have one hour to complete this assessment.

‘Bayonet Charge’ By Ted Hughes 

Suddenly he awoke and was running – raw

In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy,
Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedge
That dazzled with rifle fire, hearing
Bullets smacking the belly out of the air –
He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm;
The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye
Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest,

In bewilderment then he almost stopped –

In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations
Was he the hand pointing that second? He was running
Like a man who has jumped up in the dark and runs
Listening between his footfalls for the reason
Of his still running, and his foot hung like
Statuary in mid-stride. Then the shot-slashed furrows

Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame

And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide
Open silent, its eyes standing out.
He plunged past with his bayonet toward the green hedge,
King, honour, human dignity, etcetera
Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm
To get out of that blue crackling air
His terror’s touchy dynamite.

Q1. The title says ‘Bayonet Charge’. What is a ‘bayonet’? (1 mark)

Q2. Why do you think the poet used the word ‘charge’ in his title? (I mark)

Q3. Explain in your own words what you think the poem is about. (1 mark)

Q4. The poem contains enjambment. Find an example of enjambment in the

poem and provide the quote. (1 mark)
Q5. Find an example of simile in the poem and explain the effect of the simile.
(2 marks)

Q6. What do you notice about the first and last lines of the poem? (2 marks)

Q7. What person is the poem written in (first, second or third) and why is this
important? (2 marks)

Q8. In line 5 Hughes writes, “Bullets smacking the belly out of the air”
Identify the language device and explain the effect on the reader. (3 marks)

Q9. Identify one punctuation mark and explain its effect for the reader’s
understanding of the poem. (3 marks)

Q10. Write at least two analytical paragraphs (PEA or PEE or PETER style)
answering the following question: What are Ted Hughes’ feelings toward war
and conflict? (8 marks)