This is a dramatic monologueA poem in which the speaker addresses the reader directly. A dramatic monologue usually involves a fictional speaker who may not necessarily speak the views of the poet. arranged in 16 lines of iambic tetrameterLine of verse written in four pairs of syllables each made up by an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. grouped in four quatrainA group of four lines in a poem, these four lines have a rhyming scheme..
These quatrains develop the thoughts of the airman as he reflects on his life as a fighter pilot in the British forces.
Each quatrain has an alternating rhyme schemeHow words and sounds form a pattern to produce an intended effect for the reader..
This structure reflects the sense of balance that is an important part of both the act of flying and of the airman鈥檚 thoughts on his reason for fighting.
This balance is particularly evident in the line "鈥楾hose that I fight I do not hate, / Those that I guard I do not love".