I am going to start with the historical context of this poem (and biographical information about the poet) .Mametz wood was where a battle or engagement happened during the first Battle of the Somme in 1916 . The 38th welsh division were the division in the British army that fought in this Battle, this battle lasted from the 7th of July 1916 until 12th July 1916 .On the first day of the attack the men were stopped by the German gunfire , this was before they even had reached the wood . Attacks on the 8th of July failed to improve the position they were in .A full scale attack was planned on the 9th of July, but it was postponed until the 10th of July . This attack proved successful , although the welsh division did suffer casualties of 4,000 men and 600 died . The poem is named after this attack .
Owen sheers was born in Fiji in 1974 , but was brought up in south wales(Abergavenny) , this contributes to why he would have written this poem . He also visited the area where Mametz wood happened , on the 85th anniversary where he helped to make a short film about two welsh writers who had written about their experiences in mametz wood .Many parts of what was written in this poem was based on what he saw and read on this visit. The history of wales took a large part in Owen sheers development as a writer and a poet .
There is a metaphor about how the land is being tended back to itself , this is like trying to get rid if the wounds in the land and is an example of pathetic fallacy .Alliteration is used in this poem , you can tell this because in the first stanza you can see or hear “farmers found” , which is then countered by the harder sounds of the b’s. “socketed heads tilted back” , this quote has some rapid words in , similar to the machine guns that the Germans used in WWI. it also contains some sharp or sibilant sounds that are like the bullets that hit the men .
This poem was written to remind people about what happened in mametz woods , which was a forgotten battle to many .the “china plate of a shoulder blade” is referring to how finding the was relatively common. The flint is only mimicking the bone that was shattered by the gunfire and shells that were raining down and killing men . By writing how what happened in this event in this way , shows how this battle was just as horrific as the other battles in WWI.This also shows the injustices of history and how only certain things are remembered.
React!