Mametz Wood Flashcards
“For years afterwards the farmers found them -“
The fact that remnants of the battle (both soldiers and equipment) continue to be found emphasises how deadly the battle was
Alliterative ‘f’ sounds illustrates the lingering effects of war
The verb suggests that unearthing what remains of the soldiers and engaging with their history is accidental
Caesura slows the pace of the poem, reinforcing how the remains of the brutalised soldiers have lain here for years without being uncovered
“A chit of bone, the china plate of a shoulder blade”
The harsh consonance in this echoes the sound of gunfire and reinforces the destruction that took place on the battlefield
Metaphor suggests that the soldiers were fragile and delicate in the face of weaponry
The speaker depicts the remains of the soldiers in this way to illustrate how some may now merely view them as curious relics of history. The speaker rejects and resents this view- he believes that the soldiers and their sacrifice are worthy of remembrance
“towards the wood and its nesting machine guns.”
Preposition- the soldiers walked straight into a trap/evident danger
Personification- the enemy is depicted as predatory, well-hidden and waiting for the Welsh soldiers
“like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin.”
Smile- the speaker suggests that war is an illness that the land is trying to cleanse itself of
Alliteration- the pain and suffering still lingers years after
When a foreign body surfaces a wound may begin to heal
Perhaps the earth is rejecting them as they are foreign (Welsh). They shouldn’t have died here in the manner that they did
Sibilance- the earth doesn’t want to carry the burden of the remains and wants to set them free
“This morning, twenty men buried in one long grave,”
The speaker switches to the present, again reinforcing how to effects of the battle are still felt
The soldiers are physically and emotionally linked, dying together on the battlefield
They didn’t have the luxury or dignity of individual graves
“and their jaws, those that have them, dropped open.”
Here, the speaker symbolically suggests that not every fallen soldier will have a voice/have their story told
The speaker imagines the fallen soldiers feeling shock and anger at not being remembered/respected
“slipped from their absent tongues.”
This verb reinforces the accidental and unintentional nature of this scenario. The soldiers were discovered- they were not actively sought out
The speaker resents how it is only now that the soldiers have a voice, but he is also thankful that the soldiers have finally been recognised after hears of not being appreciated for the sacrifice they made
The tongues were symbolically absent as the soldiers had previously been silenced by death and the passage of time
