Mametz Wood - Owen Sheers

Question 1

when was this poem written?

Answer 1

2005

Question 2

themes?

Answer 2

• power - the soldiers are presented as being powerless
• war
• time - time hasn’t yet healed with the wounds from war
• place
• man
• death

Question 3

poet context

Answer 3

• born in Fiji, but raised in South Wales
• his work ‘has focused on the way people identify with land and country’ and is also interested in ‘loss, separation and the many different borders that people create between themselves’
• a poet, author, playwright and university professor
• wrote this poem in 2005, when war detritus was still being uncovered in Mametz Wood

Question 4

Mametz Wood context

Answer 4

• a wood in part of the Somme in France
• Battle of the Somme took place here in 1916
• the British army gained 760,000 additional volunteers within two months of WW1 starting
• Men were grouped together based on where they came from - the 38th Welsh Division had to reclaim Mametz Wood from the German forces
• 4,000 men died
• despite their success at Mametz Wood, the Welsh Division were viewed as ill-trained and poorly led