Mametz Wood- explanations

• "the wasted young"

  suggests they had great potential and how futile their death was. noun 'young' shows how innocent they were
• "the blown and broken birds egg of a skull"

  described like an antique. metaphor. all very fragile items, showing that the soldiers were fragile too. killed by careless leaders
• "like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin"

  simile- healing process of the earth. bones resurfacing. earth is reminding us not to go to war again
• "a broken mosaic of bone linked arm in arm"

  artistic beauty in their bravery. their togetherness and sacrifice is stronger than death
• "in boots that outlasted them"

  treating them as disposable items. symbolic of how the leaders treated them. disposable commodity
• "slipped from their absent tongues"

  metaphorical song is a warning about futility of war. reminder to never waste life. suggests their powerlessness; they have no voice to defend themselves with