"Mametz Wood" Flashcards
What does the title “Mametz Wood” suggest?
Mametz Wood was a site of a battle in Northern France during the first World War. Sheers portrays a strong connection between the environment and the battle throughout the poem.
“For years afterwards”
This suggests that the horror of war, especially this tragedy Still affects the world.
“Farmers found them”
“Them” suggests that the soldiers are unidentified and nameless when discovered. Showing that war has taken their identity.
“The wasted young”
“Wasted” shows that Owen thinks they died for no good reason. “Young” represents that they barely had a life when they were killed in the war.
“China plate” “ Broken bird’s egg of a skull” “broken mosaic of bone”
These suggest that the soldiers were vulnerable and fragile. The b’s, p’s and ch’s represent the sound of gun fire.
“They tended the land back into itself”
“Tended” shows that the earth can recover itself after being damaged, (irony) unlike the soldiers.
Also shows imagery of nursing a wound.
“Nesting machine guns”
Metaphor - “nesting” implies a new like thought. It also shows that weapons are a part of nature.
Shows bird imagery
“And even now”
Time shifts, which shows how long the healing process takes, especially after war.
“The earth stands sentinel”
Personification, which suggests the earth protects the soldier’s bones and witnessing their tragedy.
“Like a wound”
Simile continues the personification of the earth being injured.
“A foreign body to the surface of the skin”
This compares the soldiers to a foreign body, emphasising that they shouldn’t have died.
“Twenty men buried in one long grave”
This implies imagery of mass graves. Which shows the soldiers weren’t individually treated like the heroes that they were.
“Skeletons paused mid dance-macabre”
Reminds of the soldiers as living beings. This also creates dark humour.
“In boots that outlasted them”
Emphasises how young they died. Boots normally ate wrecked in trenches.
“Their socketed heads tilted back at an angle”
Horror imagery to emphasise the reader. Visualises the moment the soldiers were shot and their screams of pain.
“And their jaws, those that have them, dropped open”
This reminds the reader how damaged the soldiers were. “Dropped open” suggests that they were in action, dropped in horror.
“Their absent tongues”
The final words of the poem suggest that the damaged soldiers have finally found a voice. The final stanza combines both elements of the alternating stanzas and suggests how the poem is about offering justice or redemption to both the dead and the land of the earth.
Which poems link to Mametz Wood?
Fragility of life - The Manhunt
War - A Wife In London, The Soldier, Dulce Et Decorum Est
