Mametz Wood Flashcards
Beginning quote 1
“the farmers found them - / the wasted young”
The adjective wasted highlights how these boys were too young and didn’t get a chance to live a full life.
Beginning quote 2
“broken bird’s egg of a skull”
The alliteration highlights the violence of war with the fragility of the skull.
Middle quote 1
“nesting machine guns”
Disturbing as the verb ‘nesting’ suggests that the guns have become part of nature.
Middle quote 2
“like a wound working a foreign body”
The adjective foreign could literally show that these boys did not come from France or it could imply that they are foreign because they shouldn’t be there.
End quote 1
“a broken mosaic of bone linked arm in arm”
Arm in arm shows the comradery in the army.
The beauty of the mosaic is also contrasted with the broken bones.
End quote 2
“the notes they had sung / have only now [..] slipped from their absent tongues”
The ‘unearthing’ of the soldiers gives them the voice that they have never had.
Talk about the form of the poem
The poem is written in tercets which reflects the cycle of birth, life and death.
Language of time in Mametz Wood?
“For years afterwards”
“Even now”
Who wrote Mametz Wood
Owen Sheers
Context of Mametz Wood
- The Welsh soldiers at Mametz Wood were told to WALK into the fire of the German soldiers. It was one of the many battles of the Battle of the Somme.
- Sheers is Welsh and wanted the soldiers to be appreciated.
