Mametz Wood

Question 1

For years afterwards the farmers found them … the wasted young turning up

Answer 1

• In media res – ‘for years afterwards’ – emphasises the inescapability of the horrors of war
• Suggests the widespread devastation, and lasting impact

Question 2

The relic of a finger’ ‘the blown and broken bird’s egg of a skull’

Answer 2

• The depiction of a “finger” as a “relic” insinuates that the identity of the men as human beings have been transformed by death and the inevitable passage of time into mere archeological remains
• BUT ALSO “Relic” employs religious connotations, and can refer to the mortal remains of a saint, perhaps suggesting the veneration that the soldiers’ deserve
• Eggs traditionally associated with Hope and new life, however this metaphorical “egg” is broken – which is mimetic of the inability of the departed soldiers to pursue their ambitions
• Plosive ‘b’ alliteration creates a sense of cacophony = chaos of war – or perhaps represents the machine guns firing, a sharp contrast to the fragile remains of the soldiers

Question 3

walk, not run

Answer 3

• Ironic, as walking makes the soldiers easier targets for German artillery – creates a cynical tone, as Sheers critiques the tactics of those in command
• The phrase is reminiscent of a parent scolding a child which not only reminds a reader of just how “young” the soldiers were, but perhaps serves as a reference to the generals’ lack of respect to their vulnerable lives

Question 4

Twenty men buried in one long grave’ yet ‘broken mosaic of bone linked arm in arm

Answer 4

• Exact figure “twenty men” captures the dramatic reality and intensity of the archeological discovery – alarming/ disconcerting/ unsettling
• “One long grave” signifies the lack of honour or respect for the decreased soldiers, who weren’t allowed even the luxury of an individual burying place

Question 5

their jaws, those that still have them, dropped open

Answer 5

• Sheers does not spare the reader any details – disturbing/dire/ghastly image
• Some men so violently mutilated that they no longer have jaws

Question 6

As if the notes they had sung have only now, with this unearthing, slipped from their absent tongues

Answer 6

• The voices of these soldiers had been lost in battle, silenced for almost a century, but finally now “with this unearthing”, they have been freed from their entrapment and are able to share their experiences
• Sheers’ poem provides a medium for a reader to finally hear the songs of the soldiers – BUT ‘singing’ is a strong part of welsh culture – this silencing therefore representative of the soldier’s lost identities
• An ominous/frightening image of the dead communicating with the living

Question 7

Context

Answer 7

• Written about The Battle of the Somme (WW1)
• Opening day of the offensive saw almost 20,000 British dead – the worst fatality figures ever endured by the British army in a single day; of the three million men who fought in the battles one million were wounded or killed
• Soldiers included young welsh men; amateurs who were full of enthusiasm, yet poorly trained, ill-equipped and badly hampered by the tactics of their commanders
• Owen Sheers – raised in South Wales

Question 8

Form and structure

Answer 8

• The poem is elegiac in nature, serving to pay homage to the immense courage and sacrifice of the 38th Welsh division of the British army
• Written in tercets of uneven length – represent the chaos of the battlefield, and lack of effective tactics
• Third person – sense of emotional detachment and distance
• Free verse, lack of rhyme scheme = disarray + bedlam