Mametz wood

• who wrote Mametz wood?

  Owen Sheers
• what does Owen sheers focus on?

  the way people identify with land and country
• when was Mametz wood written?

  in 2005 it recalls the events of the Battle of the Somme in 1916
• what does sheers works as?


  poet , author and university professor
• Owen Sheers was born in fiji in 1974 but was raised in south wales
• did sheers fight in WW1?

  NO
• what was the battle of Somme?


  a battle in ww1
• 4000 men died trying too reclaim Mametz wood
• Sheers was struck when he visited the remnant of the battle ; fragments of bone were still rising to the surface
• What was happening in france ?

  they filmed a documentary of a mass grave that had 20 soldiers that had been buried with their arms linked
• how did the image of the soldiers grave affect sheers?

  he said when saw the photo he knew it was an image that would stay with him and his motivation in writing the poem
• when was the poem written?

  2005
• how were the soldiers in the battle of somme seen as?

  ill trained and poorly lead
• where is mametz wood?

  France
• " A chit of bone, the china plate of a shoulder blade"
• " the relic of a finger "
• " They were told to walk not run "
• " the earth stands sentinel "
• " for years afterwards"


  suggest that the impact of war in long lasting
• " farmers found them "

  alliteration = melancholy reflective tone

  pronoun "them" anonymous soldiers
• " Wasted young "


  sheers has a critical tone refers to the ill treatment of the soldiers
• " A chit of bone "


  the bones are randomly scattered suggest war is destructive
• " china plate "


  metaphor = compares soldiers to fragile items
• " the blown and broken birds egg of skull" 


  Natural imagery emphasises the unnaturalness of their deaths

  juxtaposition between " eggs " and "skull" =war is a destructive force - symbol of death
• " walk not run " 


  critical tone mocking the poor leadership of the 38th division
• " nesting machine guns " 


  predatory and relates to the eggs suggesting a birthing of death
• " earth stands sentinel "


  suggest the earth is guarding = working with them
• " reminder of what happened "

  vague / euphemistic language may suggest that the atrocities of war are too terrible to think about
• " A Broken mosaic of bone "


  metaphor = soldiers complete destruction
• " dance macabre "

  Dance of the dead an artistic allegory = reminder that death will unite you with your man it is also a reminder of the fragility of life
• " their jaws , those that have them , dropped open"


  emphasises the devastation of war and the brutality and the wastefulness of war
• " sung" "tongues"

  end rhyme = song
• " slipped from their absent tongues"


  soldiers are passive and powerless again links to the beginning
• structure

  uneven line length reflects uneven ground if Mametz wood
• tone

  melancholy

  poignant