Mametz Wood -
- North of France
- WW1, 38th Welsh Division
- Germans were located in the woods, where Welsh soldiers had to walk through a field
- Owen Sheers interviewed veterans for a documentary and wrote this poem alongside
Structure & Language -
- Tercets: lives of soldiers cut short
- Free-line verse
- Juxtaposition of life and death (farming & war)
- Semantic field of nature and growth
- Opposing semiotics of war and death
Stanza 1 -
- “For years afterwards” - signals change, time, emphasises generational impact & damage
- “Farmers found them” - depersonalisation, anonymity, expresses large number of bodies
- “Wasted young” - emotive language, criticism of war
- “Turning up” - constancy, earth bringing up fragments
- “Tended the earth back into itself” - healing; farmers using earth for its natural purpose
- ^ unnaturalness of war
Stanza 2 -
- “Chit of bone” - short note/message, reminder of war, connecting past to present
- “China plate of shoulder blade” - fragility, shape, colour - importance / value
- “The relic of a finger” - valuable, memorial, connecting past to present
- ^ potential religious element
- “Blown and broken bird’s egg of skull” - fragility, colour, juxtaposition of life and death
- ^ Similar properties, formation of calcium, life cycle
Stanza 3 -
- “Mimicked now in flint” - used to make weapons, alludes to war
- North of France
- WW1, 38th Welsh Division
- Germans were located in the woods, where Welsh soldiers had to walk through a field
- Owen Sheers interviewed veterans for a documentary and wrote this poem alongside
Structure & Language -
- Tercets: lives of soldiers cut short
- Free-line verse
- Juxtaposition of life and death (farming & war)
- Semantic field of nature and growth
- Opposing semiotics of war and death
Stanza 1 -
- “For years afterwards” - signals change, time, emphasises generational impact & damage
- “Farmers found them” - depersonalisation, anonymity, expresses large number of bodies
- “Wasted young” - emotive language, criticism of war
- “Turning up” - constancy, earth bringing up fragments
- “Tended the earth back into itself” - healing; farmers using earth for its natural purpose
- ^ unnaturalness of war
Stanza 2 -
- “Chit of bone” - short note/message, reminder of war, connecting past to present
- “China plate of shoulder blade” - fragility, shape, colour - importance / value
- “The relic of a finger” - valuable, memorial, connecting past to present
- ^ potential religious element
- “Blown and broken bird’s egg of skull” - fragility, colour, juxtaposition of life and death
- ^ Similar properties, formation of calcium, life cycle
Stanza 3 -
- “Mimicked now in flint” - used to make weapons, alludes to war
