mametz wood

• 'for years afterwards'


  the effects of war scar them for their whole lives
• 'wasted young'


  war prematurely aged the soldiers, young lives of childhood are wasted because they sacrificed everything
• 'turning up their plough blades'


  reliving the horrors of war over and over again, linking to the common PTSD of soldiers
• 'china plate' 


  connotations of fragility
• 'chit of bone'


  connotations of fragility
• 'relic of a ringer'


  connotations of fragility
• 'blown and broken birds egg of a skull'


  b and p plosive sounds mimic the explosions on the field, birds egg highlights the fragility of the soldiers and their minds
• 'walk not run'


  delaying death even though it is inevitable
• 'nesting machine guns'


  end stop signifies the end of their lives
• 'earth stands sentinel'


  everyone is affected by war, even if they aren't fighting
• 'their skeletons'


  no individuality as they aren't seen as people anymore
• 'socketed heads tilted back at an angle'


  highlights the horrors of war and its effects on the soldiers
• 'boots that outlasted them'


  shows the true horrors of the deaths of the soldiers and how young they were, shows how hopeless they were
• 'absent tongues'


  Sheers tries to give them a voice