mametz wood

Question 1

stanza 1

Answer 1

‘for years afterwards the farmers found them’
‘wasted young’

The time phrase ‘for years afterwards’ suggests that the impact of war is long-lasting.

The verb ‘found’ places the soldiers in a passive role; they are inactive and powerless.

The pronoun ‘them’ makes the soldiers anonymous as they do not have specific identities any longer revealing the destructive impact of war.

Sheers’ use of the adjective ‘wasted’ achieves a critical tone when describing the soldiers’ deaths, implying that he is criticizing their leaders.

Question 2

stanza 2 - 1

Answer 2

destruction - soldiers remains - alliterative sound patterns of ‘chit’ and ‘China’ and assonance in ‘plate’ &

‘blade’ and in ‘bone’, ‘blown’ and ‘broken’.
increases the effect of the extended metaphor on the fragility of the human body.

body part ‘bone’ - generic, small and undistinguishable. lexical field - random assortment of body parts implies war = massively destructive.

Question 3

stanza 2 - 2

Answer 3

highlights destructive force of war by comparing a ‘skull’ – part of the soldiers - to a ‘broken bird’s egg’.

‘Birds eggs’ - new life hope, and fragility.

‘Skulls’ - death, and danger.

violence of war - potent - eradicates hope and potential in egg and turns it into another symbol for death.

Question 4

stanza 3

Answer 4

mocking tone - ‘they were told to walk, not run’. The caesura - leaders of the 30th Welsh Division as stupid.

troop - poorly led - example - poor leadership - more casualties than otherwise.

The metaphor ‘nesting machine guns’ predatory - compared to birds of prey - soldiers - victims. This metaphor - link - previous stanza – ‘the broken bird’s egg of a skull’. destruction of war - tear apart - usual linguistic associations. End stopping bottom line - sense of finality - full stop - non-negotiable end

Question 5

stanza 4

Answer 5

vague and euphemistic language of ‘reminders of what happened’ , Sheers suggests - atrocities of war are too terrible for the earth to think about.

earth remembering the war compared to a ‘wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin’ – could be seen as hopeful as wounds do heal over time the earth will be able to acknowledge and accept the war it has experienced and the lives that have been lost

Question 6

stanzas

Answer 6

1 - for years afterwards / found / ‘then / wasted
2-1 - ‘chit’ and ‘China’ and ‘plate’ & ‘blade’ and in ‘bone’, ‘blown’ and ‘broken’.
2-2 - ‘skull’ vs ‘broken bird’s egg’.
3 - they were told to walk, not run / ‘nesting machine guns’
4 - ‘reminders of what happened / ‘wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin’