Mametz Wood

Question 1

Who wrote Mametz Wood?

Answer 1

Owen sheers

Born in Fiji but raised in South Wales

Question 2

What does the work of Owen Sheers focus on?

Answer 2

• His work focuses on people’s identity with land and country he interested in the loss, separation, and the different borders that people create among themselves

Question 3

When was this poem written?

Answer 3

• Wrote this poem in 2005 when detritus was still being uncovered in Mametz Wood

Question 4

What was the context and inspiration behind this poem?

Answer 4

• Mametz wood = Battle of the Somme in 1961 (WWI)
• British army gained 760,000 volunteers within 2 months of it starting and they were grouped together based on where they came from ( Welsh division who had to reclaim Mametz Wood)
• 400 men dead but successful
• Viewed as ill-trained and poorly led

Question 5

What does the title Mamezt Wood show?

Answer 5

• title foregrounds the themes of Place, War and Death

Question 6

What shows that the impact of war is long-lasting and the soldiers are powerless?

Answer 6

• For years afterwards the farmers found them
• for years after shows that the impact of war is long-lasting and found them shows that the soldiers are passive and them shows that they are anonymous as they don’t have a specific identity any longer (made soldiers powerless)

Question 7

What shows Owen had a critical tone towards war?

Answer 7

• ‘the wasted young’,

- wasted shows a critical tone towards war

Question 8

How does Owen show destruction in Mametz Wood?

Answer 8

• A chit of bone, the china plate of a shoulder blade,
• a chit, the china plate and the relic are all fragile and delicate things
• alliteration of ch and ch, the assonance of a in blade and plate, the assonance of o sound of blown etc
• draws attention to the destruction present in the soldier’s remains

-This morning, twenty men buried in one long grave,
= the adverbial phrase his morning shows the effect of war is still being felt today

Question 9

How does Owen use the juxtaposition to show the destruction in war?

Answer 9

and broken bird’s egg of a skull,

• juxtaposition of egg = new life and skull = death and danger
• highlights the destructive force of war and turns a symbol of hope into death

Question 10

How does Owens mock the captain on the 38th division?

Answer 10

• across this field where they were told to walk, not run,
• tone is critical and seems like he is mocking them
  = to the people in charge of the 38th division due to poor leadership that had caused many deaths

Question 11

How does Owens show the scars will heal over time?

Answer 11

• like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin.
• hopeful image as wounds do eventually heal over time

Question 12

How does Owens show sacrifices were made for something better?

Answer 12

• a broken mosaic of bone linked arm in arm,

- mosaic hits at the destruction but they also have connotations to beauty = may show sacrifices made were beautiful

Question 13

How does Owens use imagery to show how brutal war was?

Answer 13

• and their jaws, those that have them, dropped open

- embedded clause emphases the devastation of war = many of the imagery shows how brutal and how wasteful war was

Question 14

How does Owen shows that we need to acknowledge the atrocities of war?

Answer 14

• have only now, with this unearthing,

= unearthing shows that we need to acknowledge the atrocities of war to move on from them

Question 15

Why is Mametz wood a lament for the dead?

Answer 15

• Mametz wood is an elegy which is a sad and mournful poem and a lament for the dead

Question 16

What is the structure of Mametz wood like?

Answer 16

• They have no set structure and are more defined by their tone of topic but the use of long sentences gives in a slow and reflective tine
• Sheers pays tribute to the soldiers that history has forgotten
• Neat parallel lines could represent the ploughed fields
• Small fragmentary tercets could represent the remains of the soldiers

Question 17

What is the mood of Mametz Wood?

Answer 17

Being an elegy this poem has a sad, reflective tone, as shown by ‘and even now the earth stands sentinel’. However, there are many times where critical tone is used too, such as ‘wasted young’ and ‘told to walk, not run’, suggesting that the soldiers’ deaths were unnecessary.

Question 18

What are the themes in Mametz wood?

Answer 18

• Power = soldiers are presented as being powerless
• War = the impact of war on soldiers
• Time = how even time hasn’t yet healed the wounds caused by war
• Place = about the interaction of man with a specific place
• Man = about a group of men/ soldiers
• Death = the impact of death and ideas about death