'Kamikaze' poem by Beatrice Garland – GCSE teaching resources
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Make teaching Beatrice Garland's Kamikaze poem straightforward and engaging with these ready-to-use materials that guide students through poetic analysis, contextual understanding and exam preparation.
What's included
- Knowledge organiser – A concise overview covering the Kamikaze poem's summary, language and imagery, context, themes, structure and comparative links
- Student activities – Scaffolded tasks exploring perspective shifts, poetic structure, language investigation and contextual research
- Exam preparation materials – Practice question strips focusing on the Kamikaze poem to develop analytical skills
The knowledge organiser is available as a free PDF download. Subscribers can access a complete Zip folder containing the knowledge organiser, student activity worksheets, exam question strips and a teaching PowerPoint.
How to use this resource
Use the free knowledge organiser as a revision tool to establish a foundational understanding of the Kamikaze poem. For more in-depth teaching, work through the student activities, which include first reading responses, language investigation tasks, and analysis of shifting perspectives and poetic structure. Students can complete these individually, in pairs or as whole-class discussions. The accompanying PowerPoint guides the lesson sequence, while exam question strips provide targeted practice for assessment preparation.
What is the ‘Kamikaze’ poem about?
The ‘Kamikaze’ poem by Beatrice Garland is a narrative poem told from the perspective of a Japanese woman whose father was a kamikaze pilot during World War Two. These pilots were assigned suicide honour missions to bomb enemy targets. The narrator's father begins his mission but is persuaded by memories of his childhood and the beauty of the natural world below to turn back. Upon his return, his family and wider society ostracise him due to what they perceive as profound dishonour. The poem explores themes of honour, guilt, the human instinct for survival and the devastating psychological impact of war on individuals and families.
What are the key quotes in ‘Kamikaze’?
Key quotes from the Kamikaze poem include references to the pilot's mission and his decision to turn back. The third-person narration creates detachment between the pilot and the reader, reflecting how his family isolated him. Descriptive phrases like 'figure of eight', 'flashing silver' and 'swivelled towards the sun' represent both the movement of fish and war planes. The poem's structure is significant: it uses enjambment to suggest the father's rejection of his Kamikaze duty in favour of life and fatherhood. At the same time, the lack of punctuation until the end of stanza six reflects his turbulent state of mind. The final italicised stanzas shift perspective to the daughter's voice, ending with the poignant question about 'which had been the better way to die'.
Looking for more like this?
If you liked this resource, you might also be interested in these resources for teaching 'Kamikaze' and the Power and Conflict poetry cluster:
- Close analysis: 'Kamikaze' – Detailed analytical activities focusing on the poem's deeper meanings and literary techniques
- 'Kamikaze': Word meaning and imagery – Explore individual words, phrases and imagery within the poem with extension essay questions
- Personal conflict: 'Checking Out Me History' and 'Kamikaze' – Comparative activities exploring personal conflict across two poems from the cluster
- AQA exam-style questions: Power and Conflict cluster – Practice exam questions covering all poems in the anthology
Browse our complete collection of teaching materials for the poetry anthology in our AQA Power and Conflict resource collection.
A sample extract from the resource:
Research project
Research the following two contextual areas that are relevant to this poem. Share your findings with your partner, group or class.
- Research Kamikaze pilots, their traditions, customs and highly-structured honour code.
- Find out about the high value put on honour and honourable behaviour in Japan, particularly during WW2.
First reading responses
While you read the poem for the first time, pinpoint the following events and find a phrase or line that illustrates each one:
- The pilot remembers his childhood and family.
- The narrator’s father (the pilot) looks down and appreciates the fish, oceans and natural world.
- The pilot returns home, having failed in his mission.
- The pilot begins his Kamikaze mission and seems to be set on completing it.
- The father is obviously a Kamikaze pilot, due to his possessions and behaviours.
- The narrator’s father is ostracised (cast out and ignored) from society and his family.
