Studied by 2 people
“For years afterwards”
Time phrase suggests impact of war is long lasting.
“found them”
“found” displays soldiers as inactive/powerless.
“them” presents soldiers as anonymous
War made them powerless and stripped them of their identities
“wasted young”
Sheers uses a critical tone to describe the soldiers death implying he’s criticising their leaders or war
“wasted” creates critical tone
“bone”, “shoulder blade, “finger”, “skull”
“bone” is generic suggesting it’s small and undistinguishable displaying war’s destruction
Random selection of bones implies war is destructive
“A chit”, “the china plate”, “the relic,”, “broken bird’s egg”
Metaphors compares soldiers to fragile things
“broken bird’s egg of a skull”
Juxtaposition between “bird’s egg” and “skull” highlights the destructive force of war
“they were told to walk, not run”
Sheers uses a critical tone again, directed towards the leaders of the 38th Welsh Division again
Repetition of critical tone reflects Sheer’s anger of the wasted deaths of the Welsh soldiers as Sheers is Welsh too.
“nesting machine guns.”
Metaphor makes guns sound predatory through the connotations of birds from “nesting”
Metaphor displays soldiers as victims (prey)
Links to previous stanza “broken bird’s egg”, the guns birthing death
Demonstrates power of war as it breaks usual linguistic associations
“.” creates sense of finality (death)
“earth stands sentinel”
Metaphor suggests the earth is guarding/watching over the soldiers, implying that it’s working with the soldiers
Passive tone through “stands” implies the earth won’t fight along side but still on the same side
Displays how man and place interact
“reminders of what happend”
Vague, euphemistic language suggests the atrocities of war is too terrible to recall
“like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin”
Hopeful imagery
“This morning”
(Adverbial Phrase) indicates that war’s impact is still being felt today
“a broken mosaic of bone”
Metaphor hints at soldier being completely destroyed
Also suggests something beautiful
“dance-macabre”
“Dance of the Dead”, artistic allegory
Death is inevitable
A reminder of the fragility of life
“their socketed heads tilted back at an angle”
Repetition of hash plosive sounds (t, b, d, g) could mimic the machine guns fire
War’s power is so strong, it’s forced into the sounds of poetry
“with this unearthing”
Suggest the soldiers are freed
Sheer may be conveying the idea that we must acknowledge the atrocities of war to move on
“sung”, “tongues”
End-rhyme emphasises the idea of song
Songs have heavy emotional weight but not told what emotion to attach it to
“Slipped”, “Absent”
“Slipped” makes it sound like an accident
“Absent” suggests lack of agency
Soldiers presented as powerless and passive again
Sheers reinforces his idea from the beginning of the poem
Note
Flashcard