mametz wood Flashcards
who wrote the poem?
Owen Sheers
what are the main themes of the poem?
- effects of war
- nature
- death
- fragility of soldiers/human life
- passage of time
- pain and suffering
what are the possible links?
- dulce et decorum (war + patriotism)
- a wife in london (war + patriotism)
- the soldier (war + patriotism)
- the manhunt (fragility of soldiers/human life)
what division is Sheers writing about?
the 38th Welsh division
what are the main feelings/attitudes of the poem?
- sadness
- horror
- remembrance
what is the poem about?
poem begins with farmers in france finding the bones of the soldiers from ww1 when they plough their fields, then it briefly references the way the soldiers died before returning to the grisly discovery of the skeletons in the present. the discovery is partly positive - it allows the memory of the soldiers to be honoured
what perspective is the poem written in?
third person, which creates a sense of distance and detachment
what is the structure of the poem?
7 tercets (3-line stanzas), regular stanza length reflects the neat linear pattern of a ploughed field. at times the length of the line changes, with longer lines breaking up the neat form, this disrupted pattern could reflect the ‘chits of bone’ rising out of the ground and disrupting our attempts to forget the past
what do the long sentences and enjambment do?
create a reflective tone
what do the reflective tone, slow pace, and images of the past do?
they emphasise the lasting effects of war and the time it takes for the earth to heal
what is the earth personified as?
someone who needs healing and someone guarding the soldiers’ memories, which emphasises how long it takes to recover from the damage war causes and also stresses the importance of remembering those who fought in the war
what images does the poem use?
images of brokenness and contrasting images
why is the title of the poem ‘mametz wood’?
shows the setting and references the battle of the somme
what is the first stanza?
For years afterwards the farmers found them - / the wasted young, turning up their plough blades / as they tended the land back into itself.
what are the annotations of ‘For years afterwards’?
opening lines emphasise how deadly the battle was as they found the remains for ‘years afterwards’
what are the annotations of ‘them’?
the soldiers are unidentified and nameless - war has taken away their individuality
what are the annotations of ‘wasted young’?
refers to both the decaying bodies and the lives that were lost too soon, suggests the young soldiers had lost their lives before they had really started living
what are the annotations of ‘tended’?
- image suggests nursing something wounded
- the verb personifies the land, suggesting that the farmers tried to care for the wounded surface that was so badly damaged by the war
what are the annotations of ‘back into itself’?
the earth can recover after being damaged by war, unlike the dead soldiers
what is the second stanza?
A chit of bone, the china plate of a shoulder blade, the relic of a finger, the blown / and broken bird’s egg of a skull
what are the annotations of ‘a chit of bone’?
a chit is a short note and indicates that these pieces of bone contain a message for us about the brutalities of war
what are the annotations of ‘the china plate of a shoulder blade’?
the soldier’s shoulder blade is compared to a fragile, everyday object. this dehumanises him and suggests he is easily broken
what are the annotations of ‘the relic’?
a relic is an old object and also a part of a saint’s body that gets worshipped - could suggest admiration for those who died
what does the caesura in ‘a chit of bone, the china plate …’ and ‘the relic of a finger, the blown’ do?
splits the body parts up, implies that death takes away the soldier’s identities
