Mametz Wood
by Owen Sheers
Today we are learning to …
… analyse and interpret the poem Mamtez
Wood by Owen Sheers
A background to the poem
• Battle of the Somme: 1st July – 18th
November 1916.
• An offensive by British/French
armies against German army.
• One of the largest battles of WWI
with over 1 million casualties
(60,000 on first day alone)– one of
the bloodiest military operations
ever recorded.
• Mametz Wood – objective of 38th
Welsh Division as part of this larger
battle.
• Battle lasted 7-12 July 1916.
• About 4000 casualties.
In this battle, the poet Siegfried
Sassoon made single-handed
attack on enemy trenches –
awarded M.C. and nickname
‘Mad Jack’.
The battle raged for five days; Mametz Wood was devastated
as artillery shells fell continuously. Fighting was furious, with
much hand-to-hand combat, as men battled for every inch of
land.
The poet Robert Graves also fought in the battle and, having
returned to the wood once the battle was over, wrote:
"It was full of dead Prussian Guards, big men,
and dead Royal Welsh Fusiliers and South Wales
Borderers, little men. Not a single tree in the
wood remained unbroken."
The Welsh at Mametz Wood
by Christopher Williams
Moonrise over Mametz Wood
by William Thurston Topham
Mametz Wood : after the autumn advance, 1916. 'The abomination of desolation‘. by J . B. Morrall
Owen Sheers
• Welsh poet, author and
scriptwriter
• Born in Fiji, 1974
• Won and shortlisted for
many awards for his
writing.
• ‘Mametz Wood’ from his
Skirrid Hill collection.
The writer uses the poem to show us that
WWI, much written about over the years , still
haunts us almost a century later – tragedy of
loss and life. Was their sacrifice worthwhile?
For years afterwards the farmers found them –
the wasted young, turning up under their plough blades
as they tended the land back into itself.
Mametz
Wood
A chit of bone, the china plate of a shoulder blade,
the relic of a finger, the blown
and broken bird’s egg of a skull,
all mimicked now in flint, breaking blue in white
across this field where they were told to walk, not run,
towards the wood and its nesting machine guns.
And even now the earth stands sentinel,
reaching back into itself for reminders of what happened
like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin.
CLICK
HERE TO
PLAY
This morning, twenty men buried in one long grave,
a broken mosaic of bone linked arm in arm,
their skeletons paused mid dance-macabre
in boots that outlasted them,
their socketed heads tilted back at an angle
and their jaws, those that have them, dropped open.
As if the notes they had sung
have only now, with this unearthing,
slipped from their absent tongues.
by Owen Sheers
Guardian Article: read handout
Although this
isn’t the same
place, it is the
same event that
Sheers writes of.
LINK
HERE
What sorts of things did the farmers find in
their fields in stanzas 1–3?
Who? When do we realise?
Begins in past tense
For years afterwards the farmers found them –
the wasted young, turning up under their plough blades
as they tended the land back into itself.
What function does the
dash serve?
Plosives : sounds often associated with p, t, k, b, d, g - air flow
from lungs interrupted by complete closure in the mouth.
Fricatives sounds often associated with f, s; v, z - air passes
through narrow constriction causing a noisy sound.
Strong alliterative B here – what effect?
A chit of bone, the china plate of a shoulder blade,
the relic of a finger, the blown
Birds eggs preserved by
a hole in either
and broken bird’s egg of a skull, making
end and blowing out
the contents.
Various meanings including:
- a child/young person
- an IOU note or short note
- when potatoes are prepared for
planting
What other references to birds can you find? Why
do many war writers use birds as symbolism?
What do the metaphors in this
stanza suggest?
‘Returning, We Hear the Larks’
by Isaac Rosenberg (a poem)
Stills from the film version of ‘All Quiet On The Western
Front’ – a novel written by Erich Maria Remarque- a
German soldier in WWI – a soldier is inspired by birds.
Watch the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOTWPSJdxRw&list=PLD585623CD8FA8E5F
Some claim Vaughan Williams’s classical music
piece ‘The Lark Ascending’ written in 1914 was
inspired to write this as he watched the troops
leaving for France. Listen to it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR2JlDnT2l8&feature=kp
Enjambement between
stanzas 2-3 – WHY?
Hard mineral that often
fossilises & preserves what it
forms around. Produces sparks
when struck against steel.
Old fashioned crockery colours,
also the common colours of
flint.
all mimicked now in flint, breaking blue in white
across this field where they were told to walk, not run,
towards the wood and its nesting machine guns.
Compare time periods covered by
stanzas 1–3 and stanzas 5–7.
What do you notice?
Why is this stanza
placed in the middle
of the poem?
Personification: what human characteristics are
given to the earth?
What does this suggest about nature / fate of the
soldiers / modern attitudes to WWI?
How would the earth ‘feel’ to see what is
happening?
Repetition of ‘now’; shift
to present tense.
And even now the earth stands sentinel,
reaching back into itself for reminders of what happened
like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin.
Simile: what does this
comparison suggest?
Irony: literally a foreign body – reminiscent of
Rupert Brooke’s ‘The Soldier’?
Read the first column of quotations, then try to match each of
them with a quotation from the second column. When you
have found the matching pairs, fill in the final column
explaining how they are connected.
Quotation (1)
Quotation (2)
‘the china plate of
a shoulder blade’
‘nesting machine
guns’
‘the blown/and
broken bird’s egg
of a skull’
‘a broken mosaic
of bone’
‘like a wound
working a foreign
body to the surface
of the skin’
‘tended the earth
back into itself’
How are they
linked?
Quotation (1)
Quotation (2)
‘the china plate of a
shoulder blade’
‘nesting machine
guns’
‘the blown/and broken
bird’s egg of a skull’
‘a broken mosaic of
bone’
‘like a wound working
a foreign body to the
surface of the skin’
‘tended the earth
back into itself’
How are they linked?
Insistent reminder of the
Present: suggests a new
discovery of the past
This morning, twenty men buried in one long grave,
a broken mosaic of bone linked arm in arm,
their skeletons paused mid dance-macabre
Metaphor: suggesting
what?
Danse Macabre: AKA ‘Dance of Death’ – a
theme of much medieval art/poetry which
depicts the universality of death with skeletons
leading all ranks of people to their deaths. It
symbolises death as the great equaliser; that
wealth/material possesions, power and beauty
are fleeting. See next slides for pictures…
Danse Macabre
Danse Macabre
Danse Macabre
Enjambement between
stanzas 5-6 – WHY?
Poignant that the boots are
more durable than the men
Shocking and graphic image
of the skulls.
in boots that outlasted them,
their socketed heads tilted back at an angle
and their jaws, those that have them, dropped open.
A disturbing aside - hints at lack of voice?
Poet offers his interpretation?
Perfect past tense: means that
the singing took place before any
of the other events referred to.
Why mention the ‘oldest’ event
right at the end of the poem?
As if the notes they had sung
have only now, with this unearthing,
slipped from their absent tongues.
What might the poet be trying to
indicate here?
Image of loss – also compare
to jaws discussion in stanza 6
PAST AND PRESENT: quick task
1. Highlight:
• Verbs in simple past tense (ending –ed)
• Verbs in present tense
• Verbs in past perfect tense (using ‘had’).
2. What does this task reveal about the division
between past and present?
3. Does this alter your initial interpretation of
the poem?