Mametz Wood Flashcards
introduction
- The poem reflects on the enduring impact of the Battle of Mametz Wood, a significant event during World War One, where nearly 4000 soldiers from the Welsh Division lost their lives.
- The poem opens with farmers discovering the bones of soldiers as they plough their fields, a haunting reminder of the past.
- Sheers explores the tension between nature’s ability to heal and the enduring scars left by human conflict.
form
- third person perspective -> sense of detachment and distance
- an elegy -> a sad, mournful poem - a lament for the dead
- the poem is written in free verse and consists of seven tercets (three-line stanzas), each foregrounding a different element of this tragedy
- the symmetry of the stanzas is suggestive of the intimate connection between the soldiers, as they fought and died together
structure
- small, fragmentary tercets - consistent tercets which are reflective of the consistency of things turning up in the soil
- fragmentary -> the remains of the soldiers
- poem has parallel lines- represent how the the fields are ploughed
- seven stanzas
long sentences, enjambment and caesurae
- conversational
- slow, reflective tone
- sheers is paying a tribute to soldiers that history has forgotten
finish the quote: ‘nesting..
…machine guns.’
‘nesting machine guns.’
- end-stopped line
- non-negotiable end
- sense of finality -> death laying underneath the surface of this stanza
finish the quote: ‘as if the notes they had sung..
..have only now, with this unearthing, slipped from their absent tongues.’
‘as if the notes they had sung/ have only now, with this unearthing/slipped from their absent tongues’
- end rhyme
- emphasises the idea of song
- appears to be quite central to this stanza
- interesting - songs carry emotional weight - Welsh
‘chit’
‘china’
soundscape
- alliterative ‘ch’
‘plate’
‘blade’
soundscape
- assonance ‘a’ - long
‘bone’
‘blown’
‘broken’
soundscape
- assonance ‘o’ - long
soundscape
- sonically connected second stanza
- draws attention to the destruction present in the soldier’s remains
- the use of sound patterns might allude to Welsh context - singing + choirs
finish the quote: ‘their socketed heads..
…tilted back at an angle’
‘their socketed heads tilted back at an angle’
- repetition of harsh plosive sounds
- ‘t’ ‘k’ ‘b’ ‘d’ ‘g’
- could mimic the machine gunfire which ‘tilted back’ the soldiers’ head at an angle
- war’s power is strong
- forces its way into the very sounds of poetry
finish the quote: ‘a chit..
..of bone’
finish the quote: ‘china plate..
..of a shoulder blade’
finish the quote: ‘relic..
..of a finger’
finish the quote: ‘broken bird’s egg..
..of a skull’
‘a chit of bone’
‘china plate of a shoulder blade’
‘relic of a finger’
‘broken bird’s egg of a skull’
- soldiers compared to fragile things
finish the quote: ‘nesting..
..machine guns’
‘nesting machine guns’
- metaphor
- makes guns sound predatory
- compared to birds of prey
- makes soldiers sound like victims/prey
- possibly links to ‘broken bird’s egg of a skull’ - guns birth death -> destruction of war is able o tear apart those who fought in the war
finish the quote: ‘earth..
..stands sentinel’
‘earth stands sentinel’
- ‘sentinel’ -> guard whose job it is to stand and watch
- earth is working with soldiers in a protective capacity -> inactive- won’t fight alongside the soldiers - it is on their side - importance of remembering
- could be an example of sheers writing about how man and place interact
finish the quote: ‘like a wound…
..working a foreign body to the surface of the skin’
‘like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin’
- earth remembering the war
- compared to a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin - alien
- hopeful - wounds do heal over time - the earth will be able to acknowledge and accept the war it has experienced and lives that have been lost
finish the quote: ‘broken..
..mosaic of bone’
‘broken mosaic of bone’
- metaphor that alludes to war’s power and how it has completely destroyed the soldiers, reducing them to broken fragments
- ‘mosaic’ - an art form/beauty -> the sacrifices that the soldiers made were beautiful and should be honoured
images of brokenness
- how war has the ability to dehumanise
sixth stanza - ‘in boots that outlasted them…dropped open’
- shocking images
- sheers emphasises the brutality and wastefulness of war -> death - 4000 died
finish the quote: ‘for years…
..afterwards’
‘for years afterwards’
- suggests the impact of war is long-lasting
- longevity
title
- ‘mametz wood’
- could foreground the themes of place, war and death depending on the context
- WAR - WW1 - battle of the somme
- PLACE - mametz wood is an actual place - acknowledging the fact that it is there and the importance of remembering it
finish the quote: ‘mid..
..dance-macabre’
‘mid dance-macabre’
- dance of the dead - artistic allegory
- middle ages -> universality of death - depicts that all people from all ways of life being led by death to their graves
- no matter who you are in life, death will unite you with your fellows
- acts as a reminder for the fragility of life
‘bone’
‘shoulder blade’
‘finger’
‘skull’
- corporeal imagery
- body parts -> aren’t connected - random assortment
- presents war as destructive - all that is left of soldiers is disparate remains
finish the quote: ‘where they were..
..told to walk, not run’
‘where they were told to walk, not run’
- sheers is being critical and mocking the instructions given - ridiculousness of the soldiers being told to walk, not run across the battlefield
- is directly criticising the people in charge of the 38th welsh division
- we know they were poorly led
- an example of poor leadership leading to more casualties
finish the quote: ‘this..
..morning’
‘this morning’
- adverbial phrase
- indicates that war’s impact is still being felt today
finish the quote: ‘reminders of..
..what happened’
‘reminders of what happened’
- euphemistic language
- atrociousness of war is too terrible to think about
finish the quote: ‘turning..
..up’
‘turning up’
- desensitises -> farmers are used to it
‘broken bird’s egg of a skull’
- juxtaposing ideas ‘bird’s egg’ and ‘skull’
- ‘skull’ associated with death and danger
- sheers highlights the destructive force of war
- so potent that it will eradicate any hope/potential within an egg
finish the quote: ‘the wasted…
..young’
‘the wasted young’
- sheers is being critical when describing the soliders’ deaths
- criticising leaders or war more generally
finish the quote: ‘found..
..them’
‘found them’
- ‘found’ - verb - soldiers are passive - inactive and powerless
- ‘them’ - soldiers are anonymous - they don’t have a specific identity anymore - how destructive war has been - made soldiers powerless and identityless
finish the quote: ‘with this..
..unearthing’
‘with this unearthing’
- by suggesting that the soldiers are freed by their ‘unearthing’, sheers may be conveying the idea that we must acknowledge the atrocities of war if we are to move on from it
finish the quote: ‘slipped from their…
…absent tongues’
‘slipped from their absent tongues’
- ‘absent’ - lack of agency - presentation of soldiers being passive and powerless
- sheers reinforces this idea from the beginning of the poem
finish the quote: ‘those that..
..have them’
‘those that have them’
- embedded clause
- emphasises the devastation of war
mood and tone
- critical
- slow/reflective - long sentences, caesurae and enjambment
key quotations for death
“For years afterwards the farmers found them –
/ the wasted young, turning up under their plough blades”
“A chit of bone, the china plate of a shoulder blade”
ANALYSIS FOR KEY QUOTES FOR DEATH
“For years afterwards the farmers found them –
/ the wasted young, turning up under their plough blades”
“A chit of bone, the china plate of a shoulder blade”
The juxtaposition of the commonplace “farmers” with the metonym “wasted young” to describe the soldiers underscores the tragic loss of life
The metaphor compares a shoulder blade to the “china plate” which illustrates its fragility and delicacy. The consonance of the ‘ch’ sound and assonance of the ‘i’ creates a harsh physical quality to the descriptions of bone
key quotations for war
“a broken mosaic of bone linked arm in arm”
“slipped from their absent tongues”
“This morning, twenty men buried in one long grave”
ANALYSIS FOR KEY QUOTES FOR WAR
“a broken mosaic of bone linked arm in arm”
“slipped from their absent tongues”
“This morning, twenty men buried in one long grave”
The metaphor of a “broken mosaic” reinforces the idea of destruction while the intimate phrase “linked arm in arm” humanises the soldiers’ deaths, suggesting their camaraderie even in death
The phrase “absent tongues” is paradoxical as it suggests both presence and absence: the soldiers’ remains are there though they are not. The word “slipped” suggests an almost unnoticed movement which contrasts sharply with the violent nature of their deaths
The number “twenty” and the imagery of “one long grave” symbolises the mass casualties of war. It also implies a lack of individual recognition and dignity in death, reinforced by the sombre statement
key quotations for memory
“like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin.”
“And even now the earth stands sentinel,/ reaching back into itself for reminders of what happened”
ANALYSIS FOR KEY QUOTES FOR MEMORY
“like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin.”
“And even now the earth stands sentinel,/ reaching back into itself for reminders of what happened”
The simile compares the ground to a wound expelling a foreign object, suggesting the land is also trying to heal from the trauma of war by resurfacing both the bodies and the memories
The earth is personified as a “sentinel” suggesting it acts as a guardian over the memories of the past and symbolises the enduring nature of memory and the importance of remembrance
