How far do you agree with the view that Mametz Wood is the key to this collection? You should consider both subject matter and style.

While some of the themes presented in Mametz Wood also appear elsewhere in Sheers’ poetry, I do not agree that it is key to the collection as it is not wholly typical.

The most significant theme presented in Mametz Wood is the idea of loss, which is portrayed to some extent in almost all of Sheers’ poetry. This poem, however, is different as far as subject matter is concerned in that it deals with the loss of life during the war and the subsequent loss of national identity. Other poems in the collection are more concerned with the loss of love and the breakdown of romantic relationships, the most notable examples being Marking Time, Keyways and Valentine who explore the struggle for personal rather than collective identity.

The poem which is most similar in subject matter to Mametz Wood is Joseph Jones. Mametz Wood, written as a response to the tragic Battle of the Somme, discusses the ‘wasted young’ and ‘twenty men buried in one long grave’. In this poem he gives the soldiers who died a collective identity and prompts the reader to sympathise with them through the use of sinister imagery such as ‘broken mosaic of bone’ and ‘skeletons paused mid dance-macabre’. Joseph Jones however, as the title of the poem suggests, remembers only one young man. While it is not made explicitly clear that he died in the war, the use of past tense ‘of course I remember Joseph’ and nostalgic admiration suggests that this was the case. In Mametz Wood their youth is conveyed through phrases such as ‘wasted young’ and ‘boots that outlasted them’, evoking pity in the reader. In Joseph Jones his youth is shown through phrases such as, ‘fifty press ups before a night out’, suggesting physical strength and fitness, and crude imagery typical of young males, including, ‘told us all how he got his red wings’, which is a reference to him losing his virginity. The key difference between the poem is that Mametz Wood remembers and mourns the dead, whereas Joseph Jones admires him, describing him as a ‘small town myth’ and celebrates his life. However, although the relationship between the poems is clear regarding subject matter, their style is less similar. Mametz Wood is written emotively with a great deal of natural imagery which is more typical of the collection as a whole, whereas Joseph Jones is written simplistically. While they are both in stanzas, they are presented differently upon the page and the sentence structure is also different: Joseph Jones uses short sentences and lines to create suspense whereas Mametz Wood uses long sentences. The former is also all in the same past tense, whereas the latter begins in past tense and adopts the present tense half-way through.

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Another poem in the collection which can be linked to Mametz Wood is Flag, which also explores the loss of national identity for the Welsh. In Mametz Wood the loss of national identity is conveyed through the references to the dead soldiers and how ‘the earth stands sentinel, reaching back into itself for reminders of what happened’, symbolising the confusion of the Welsh people. It continues with a simile stating that this is ‘like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin’, suggesting that the invasion and defeat from foreign countries opposing them during the war has damaged their national pride. As the title suggests, the poem Flag uses a flag to symbolise national identity and begins with a quote by Christopher Logue stating, ‘Each man had a liver, a heart a brain and a Flag’, emphasising its importance. The lack of national pride is conveyed by stating that they are ‘hung up like wet washing’ and that ‘occasional sun has ghosted the paint to a bad photocopy’. The use of the word ‘ghosted’ hyperbolically suggests that national identity has ceased to exist in Wales and the flags are merely a reminder of how they used to be. Sheers continues to describe the flag as ‘struggling to exist’ and goes on to criticize Wales directly, referring to it as ‘a country pulsing to be young….blessed with a blind spot bigger than itself’ suggesting that they cannot keep up yet are unable to see what is wrong with them. The poem concludes by describing the flag as a ‘chinese burn’, implying violence and foreign interference, and a ‘bandage tight on the wound staunching the dreams of what might have been’ suggesting oppression and a sense of failure. As well as being obviously related to Mametz Wood as far as subject matter is concerned, they are also stylistically similar as they both have long sentences and natural imagery in common, such as the metaphorical reference to the flag as a ‘strange flower’. The most significant difference is that Flag begins with a quote, a technique also used in Hedge School, which is unusual and not typical of the collection.

Mametz Wood can also be compared to Keyways as both present the theme of loss. Keyways, however, is more typical of Sheers’ poetry as it discusses the loss of love and the death of a relationship which is seen throughout the collection, rather than the loss of life and actual death presented in Mametz Wood. Keyways has a circular structure and begins and ends with keys being cut, which symbolises the beginning and end of their relationship. The couple are described as ‘a master key fit’ and ‘siamese twins sharing one lung’ emphasising their closeness but also their lack of individual identity and oppressive nature of the relationship, an idea initially communicated when the narrator states that he will, ‘take back all that is mine’. The poem nostalgically remembers their wedding day and them spending the night together. Sexual imagery such as ‘I held the bow of your hip’ is used, which is fairly typical of the collection. Another key difference between the poems is that Keyways is written in first person whereas in Mametz Wood the narrator is a third party.

Mametz Wood is key to the collection to some degree, as themes such as loss and national identity are frequently presented in Sheers’ poetry. Conversely, the struggle for personal identity due to loss, particularly following breakdown of a relationship which is likely to be due to Sheers’ own experience of marital difficulties is more typical of the collection. As Sheers uses a variety of linguistic structures in the collection, including Haikus, long and short stanzas and poems keeping to a strict format such as in Calendar it is arguable that there is no typical style. The language and style used in Mametz Wood, namely the long sentence structure and natural imagery is very typical, is frequently shown elsewhere in the collection and is, in my opinion, more key to the collection that the subject matter.

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