Mametz Woods Flashcards
Start quote (1)
‘They tended the land back into itself’ The farmers are trying to get rid of anything linked with the war so they can turn it back into its original state. This demonstrates a lack of care for those who fought in the war.
Start quote (2)
‘Breaking blue in white’ the plosive B sounds mimics the sound of gunshots in battle to demonstrate how violet the war was. He also describes the colours of the remains of the soldiers.
Middle quote (2)
‘They were told to walk not run’ the soldiers were ordered to walk towards the woods, unaware of the machine guns waiting to fire. Sheer’s uses emotional imagery to demonstrate how much of an easy target they were.
Middle quote (1)
‘And even now the earth stands sentinel’ Sheer’s turns to the present in the stanza to demonstrate how the remains still appear many years later. He personifies the Earth in order to illustrate that the Earth stands guard since it’s afraid of battle as last time it got demolished.
End quote (1)
‘A broken mosaic of bone linked arm in arm’ Sheer’s creates an emotional image to represent the mend, physically dying together. As well as that Sheers uses the word mosaic to demonstrate the soldiers were carefully buried similar to a mosaic which is carefully constructed. He also uses the word broken to represent the soldiers injuries.
End quote (2)
‘Only now with this unearthing’ the soldiers have now been discovered, but didn’t get a chance to talk about the contribution
Form and structure
The poems which is between past and present so remember the past. There is also a rhyme in the last stanza to present a hopeful message. There is an inconsistent meter to illustrate the gradual resurfacing of the bones.
Personal response
I like the poem because it recognises the soldiers that were forgotten in the battle of Somme and their positive contribution to war
