Once again it's National Poetry Day, and safe to say the poetry world is still as busy as ever. It's been a bit busier than usual on this blog as well, with two new poems in the last couple of weeks and a few more to come. The next installment of Frynwys Features is on it's way, as Frynwys has been a bit livelier of late, and I have a few other projects on the go as well. One project that I'm sorry to say has experienced a fair few delays has been my Mametz Wood project, but as something special for National Poetry Day, I thought I'd share with you some of the work in progress. The following is a draft of a poem which sets out the basis of the full poem I'm attempting to write. Hope you enjoy, and have some good poetry-related celebrations (if that stuff goes on and the like). See you again soon!
Mametz Wood First Draft
Ahead of the trenches
sits the wood itself.
A fortress of trees
on a small hill.
Coils of barbed wire
spiralling outwards,
carving up the mud.
Nest of machine guns
and snipers perched
atop the fire-steps
as sharp-sighted
as birds of prey,
hidden by the trees.
Showing posts with label mametz wood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mametz wood. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 October 2018
Saturday, 12 August 2017
The Tiger Poet vs. Owen Sheers - 'Mametz Wood'
For a long time, I've heard it said that Owen Sheers is a bit of a prodigy. He excelled at poetry at a young age, and his skills have only improved over time to the point where he is one of the strongest voices in Welsh poetry. His work tackles a variety of subjects, including love, farming life, landscapes, and the effects of war as demonstrated in his verse drama Pink Mist. For me though, Sheers will prove especially helpful as a source of inspiration in my attempt to tackle Mametz Wood, a defining moment for Welsh soldiers in the First World War.
Sheers is no stranger to Mametz, having written about the battle in verse and staged a play to mark the centenary of the action which took place during the Battle of the Somme. So now, in my own attempt to tackle the subject, let's see what Sheers makes of it in his eponymous poem 'Mametz Wood'. Written in 2005, the poem is comprised of seven tercets with a fairly regular pattern of ten to twelve syllables per line. Without making this sound too much like an A Level English Literature exam, this meter gives 'Mametz Wood' a similar feel to the poems of Shakespeare written in iambic pentameter. This structure gives the poem an almost elegiac feel, and it becomes very effective when it delves into the aftermath of the action at Mametz Wood.
The poem opens with Sheers describing farmers discovering the remains of fallen young soldiers as they plough their fields. The last line of the first stanza is particularly effective as it conjures up images of the devastation inflicted upon the landscape during the war, and conveys the struggle to return to normality for years afterwards. From this Sheers moves into describing the soldiers' remains, delivering some potent imagery by using alliteration, particularly with comparisons to china plate and how a damaged skull resembles a shattered bird's egg. Such remains are still being found at Mametz Wood today, and such discoveries highlight the senseless brutality of war.
The combination of human tragedy, precise metaphor and terrific imagery hammers home the true cost of the battle. Sheers momentarily describes how the Welsh soldiers were ordered to walk towards the wood while facing heavily fortified machine gun positions, conveying an accurate representation of the layout of the battle, before seguing into perhaps the poem's best metaphorical imagery. Here, Sheers describes a land still recovering reminders of what happened, which he compares to a foreign body being dredged up from a wound in human skin.
This one stanza encapsulates the aftermath of the First World War better than any epitaph I've read. Many thousands of soldiers perished or went missing in the chaos of the war, and every now and then skeletons are discovered on the old battlefields across France and Belgium. My own experiences travelling to Ypres in Belgium to visit the Tyne Cot Cemetery and the Menin Gate have given me a clear picture of the sheer scale of the casualties, and the sense of an entire generation being wiped out. While this seems more abstract in poetic form, Sheers gives us a concrete image to exemplify the reality of Mametz Wood.
He describes the discovery of twenty men buried together in a grave, which he describes as something similar to a 'dance macabre', as the skeletons have their arms interlinked. Such vivid imagery, coupled with the rhythmical meter of the poem, evokes paintings of the battle such as the famous one by Christopher Williams, which depict similar scenes of Welsh and German soldiers alike trapped in a strange, horrific death dance. This imagery, although somewhat abstract, conveys an eerie atmosphere, further reinforced in the following stanza, which adds to the previous description by including visceral detail. Sheers describes the remains of the soldiers boots, their skulls and in perhaps the most disturbing image in which he mentions that jaws are dropped open on the soldiers who still possess them.
Having maintained the rhythm and structure of the poem, filled with a balanced mixture of abstract and concrete imagery, with a clear metaphorical line running through it, Sheers ends by finding poignant meaning in the open jaws of the soldiers' skeletons. He posits that it is as if notes sung by the soldiers are only now slipping from their tongues after having been buried for so long. It strikes a beautiful abstract image against the visceral horror of the mass grave. It drives home the tragedy of the First World War in a relatively simple yet effective way, in how the mass slaughter of industrialised warfare destroyed millions of lives and the potential within them.
All in all, it's safe to say that now having analysed 'Mametz Wood' from beginning to end, Sheers more than lives up to his reputation. As a poem encapsulating the battle, it's a terrific piece of work, and there's a lot I can learn from it in my attempt to write my own Mametz Wood poem. If it will be anywhere near as good as Sheers' effort, we shall wait and see, but if you want to read the entirety of Mametz Wood, go and check it out.
Sheers is no stranger to Mametz, having written about the battle in verse and staged a play to mark the centenary of the action which took place during the Battle of the Somme. So now, in my own attempt to tackle the subject, let's see what Sheers makes of it in his eponymous poem 'Mametz Wood'. Written in 2005, the poem is comprised of seven tercets with a fairly regular pattern of ten to twelve syllables per line. Without making this sound too much like an A Level English Literature exam, this meter gives 'Mametz Wood' a similar feel to the poems of Shakespeare written in iambic pentameter. This structure gives the poem an almost elegiac feel, and it becomes very effective when it delves into the aftermath of the action at Mametz Wood.
The poem opens with Sheers describing farmers discovering the remains of fallen young soldiers as they plough their fields. The last line of the first stanza is particularly effective as it conjures up images of the devastation inflicted upon the landscape during the war, and conveys the struggle to return to normality for years afterwards. From this Sheers moves into describing the soldiers' remains, delivering some potent imagery by using alliteration, particularly with comparisons to china plate and how a damaged skull resembles a shattered bird's egg. Such remains are still being found at Mametz Wood today, and such discoveries highlight the senseless brutality of war.
The combination of human tragedy, precise metaphor and terrific imagery hammers home the true cost of the battle. Sheers momentarily describes how the Welsh soldiers were ordered to walk towards the wood while facing heavily fortified machine gun positions, conveying an accurate representation of the layout of the battle, before seguing into perhaps the poem's best metaphorical imagery. Here, Sheers describes a land still recovering reminders of what happened, which he compares to a foreign body being dredged up from a wound in human skin.
This one stanza encapsulates the aftermath of the First World War better than any epitaph I've read. Many thousands of soldiers perished or went missing in the chaos of the war, and every now and then skeletons are discovered on the old battlefields across France and Belgium. My own experiences travelling to Ypres in Belgium to visit the Tyne Cot Cemetery and the Menin Gate have given me a clear picture of the sheer scale of the casualties, and the sense of an entire generation being wiped out. While this seems more abstract in poetic form, Sheers gives us a concrete image to exemplify the reality of Mametz Wood.
He describes the discovery of twenty men buried together in a grave, which he describes as something similar to a 'dance macabre', as the skeletons have their arms interlinked. Such vivid imagery, coupled with the rhythmical meter of the poem, evokes paintings of the battle such as the famous one by Christopher Williams, which depict similar scenes of Welsh and German soldiers alike trapped in a strange, horrific death dance. This imagery, although somewhat abstract, conveys an eerie atmosphere, further reinforced in the following stanza, which adds to the previous description by including visceral detail. Sheers describes the remains of the soldiers boots, their skulls and in perhaps the most disturbing image in which he mentions that jaws are dropped open on the soldiers who still possess them.
Having maintained the rhythm and structure of the poem, filled with a balanced mixture of abstract and concrete imagery, with a clear metaphorical line running through it, Sheers ends by finding poignant meaning in the open jaws of the soldiers' skeletons. He posits that it is as if notes sung by the soldiers are only now slipping from their tongues after having been buried for so long. It strikes a beautiful abstract image against the visceral horror of the mass grave. It drives home the tragedy of the First World War in a relatively simple yet effective way, in how the mass slaughter of industrialised warfare destroyed millions of lives and the potential within them.
All in all, it's safe to say that now having analysed 'Mametz Wood' from beginning to end, Sheers more than lives up to his reputation. As a poem encapsulating the battle, it's a terrific piece of work, and there's a lot I can learn from it in my attempt to write my own Mametz Wood poem. If it will be anywhere near as good as Sheers' effort, we shall wait and see, but if you want to read the entirety of Mametz Wood, go and check it out.
Friday, 14 July 2017
New Feature Announcement: Slam Poetry on the Spot
With so much going on right now, it may seem foolhardy of me to be announcing another feature, but that's exactly what this post is about (if you didn't already guess by the title). As my second new feature on this blog, I'm pleased to announce the first installment of Slam Poetry on the Spot will be up in the next week or two.
On my YouTube channel I have a playlist consisting of who I consider to be the best British slam poets working today. There is a thriving slam poetry scene in America where poets are doing lots of great things, and I have covered the topic of spoken word and performance poetry before. So, for the foreseeable future, I will be analysing a slam or spoken word poet and one of their poems (or several), looking for what makes them great at their work.
If this sounds like your kind of thing, then stick around and check it out. Seeing as I talk about written poetry quite a lot on this blog, it will be fun to discuss performance poetry again, especially as it appears to be taking off and growing into a larger community by the year. The first installment will be focusing on spoken word poet Suli Breaks, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, coming up next is my long awaited analysis of Owen Sheers' poem 'Mametz Wood'.
Hope you're all enjoying the summer, and see you again soon.
On my YouTube channel I have a playlist consisting of who I consider to be the best British slam poets working today. There is a thriving slam poetry scene in America where poets are doing lots of great things, and I have covered the topic of spoken word and performance poetry before. So, for the foreseeable future, I will be analysing a slam or spoken word poet and one of their poems (or several), looking for what makes them great at their work.
If this sounds like your kind of thing, then stick around and check it out. Seeing as I talk about written poetry quite a lot on this blog, it will be fun to discuss performance poetry again, especially as it appears to be taking off and growing into a larger community by the year. The first installment will be focusing on spoken word poet Suli Breaks, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, coming up next is my long awaited analysis of Owen Sheers' poem 'Mametz Wood'.
Hope you're all enjoying the summer, and see you again soon.
Wednesday, 10 May 2017
New Poetry Video Live and Other Updates
Hi guys.
Just wanted to let you know that a video version of 'Sonnet from Stratford', a poem I wrote for NaPoWriMo, has just gone live. Click on the link here to watch it. I hope you enjoy it.
In other news, I have almost completed the next installment of Frynwys Features, which is a fairly tricky task due to the slow nature of news in the village. Still, despite the rather dull pace of life here, there are still stories to be found and you'll be finding out what those are in due course.
I can also confirm that more poetry is in the works, along with an analysis of Owen Sheers' 'Mametz Wood', in preparation for my own poem about the battle. I'm hoping to do more features about individual poets on this blog so be sure to stick around for that.
Those are all the updates I can think of for now, but if there are any more I'll be sure to let you know.
Anyways, enjoy the new video and I'll see you all soon.
Just wanted to let you know that a video version of 'Sonnet from Stratford', a poem I wrote for NaPoWriMo, has just gone live. Click on the link here to watch it. I hope you enjoy it.
In other news, I have almost completed the next installment of Frynwys Features, which is a fairly tricky task due to the slow nature of news in the village. Still, despite the rather dull pace of life here, there are still stories to be found and you'll be finding out what those are in due course.
I can also confirm that more poetry is in the works, along with an analysis of Owen Sheers' 'Mametz Wood', in preparation for my own poem about the battle. I'm hoping to do more features about individual poets on this blog so be sure to stick around for that.
Those are all the updates I can think of for now, but if there are any more I'll be sure to let you know.
Anyways, enjoy the new video and I'll see you all soon.
Monday, 1 May 2017
NaPoWriMo 2017 Completed
So that's it. After thirty days' ceaseless formulating and writing poems, I've finally completed NaPoWriMo 2017. It's been a long challenge indeed, but looking back on what I've written this last month, I can safely say it was an unqualified success (unqualified due to my inexperience at this kind of challenge).
What strikes me looking through my NaPoWriMo catalogue is how the challenge forces you to think on your feet while writing and searching for ideas. While I had my usual tropes to fall back on - tiger poems, animal poems, poems about Wales - I've branched out into new territory with some of the other poems I've done. We've had poems about catfish, we've had poems about chimpanzees, we've had poems about worms, we've had poems about Bugatti, we've had sonnets, and we've had poems written in trochaic octameter. All in all NaPoWriMo has forced me to go outside my comfort zone a bit, which is a great stage of development for any writer.
Due to the fact that NaPoWriMo isn't so much about quality as about quantity, the constant demand to produce a poem a day for a month has been a bit tiring. Still, I think it has strengthened my writing abilities, as it has with many others whose work I've been seeing. For my first completed NaPoWriMo, it's been quite a good ride and I look forward to taking the challenge on again when it comes around next year.
In the meantime, I've got a few things approaching fast on this blog. There will be more poems as usual in the next week or two, another instalment of my newest feature, Frynwys Features, and more updates on the long-gestating Mametz Wood project.
To all of you who participated in NaPoWriMo 2017, well done and good luck for the future!
What strikes me looking through my NaPoWriMo catalogue is how the challenge forces you to think on your feet while writing and searching for ideas. While I had my usual tropes to fall back on - tiger poems, animal poems, poems about Wales - I've branched out into new territory with some of the other poems I've done. We've had poems about catfish, we've had poems about chimpanzees, we've had poems about worms, we've had poems about Bugatti, we've had sonnets, and we've had poems written in trochaic octameter. All in all NaPoWriMo has forced me to go outside my comfort zone a bit, which is a great stage of development for any writer.
Due to the fact that NaPoWriMo isn't so much about quality as about quantity, the constant demand to produce a poem a day for a month has been a bit tiring. Still, I think it has strengthened my writing abilities, as it has with many others whose work I've been seeing. For my first completed NaPoWriMo, it's been quite a good ride and I look forward to taking the challenge on again when it comes around next year.
In the meantime, I've got a few things approaching fast on this blog. There will be more poems as usual in the next week or two, another instalment of my newest feature, Frynwys Features, and more updates on the long-gestating Mametz Wood project.
To all of you who participated in NaPoWriMo 2017, well done and good luck for the future!
Friday, 3 March 2017
Updates: Mametz Wood, NaPoWriMo and More
Hi guys. It seems the last two months have disappeared too quickly, but fortunately I've got a lot to look forward to in March.
The Mametz Wood project is still ongoing, and I'm currently in the process of reading other poets' work on the subject to give me a grounding in how to write about the battle. First on my list is Owen Sheers' take on the battle, with his eponymously titled 'Mametz Wood'. It mainly deals with the aftermath of the battle, but it's still a haunting portrayal of the long-term consequences of the First World War. There is of course David Jones' In Parenthesis, considered the definitive and best work on Mametz Wood, which is the go-to source when researching the battle. Hopefully, with such a precedent for work about this key event in Welsh history, I will have a good chance at formulating my own take on it.
In other news I'm planning to take on National Poetry Writing Month this year. I'm hoping this time I can actually reach the end of the month with a poem each day, especially after I failed two years ago. Due to the fast writing schedule, it's a given that most poems written during NaPoWriMo aren't great, and having read through some of the poems I wrote last time I can see I've got a lot of room for improvement. We'll see how I do when April arrives.
Aside from NaPoWriMo, there's plenty of poetry to come in the next few days. I've got a couple of animal-themed poems on the go at the moment, as well as an experimental piece which is taking a bit longer than I thought. Hopefully it'll appear on this blog before April, but if it doesn't then it will probably be finished before the summer at the latest.
Anyway, hope you're all having a good week, and to any Welsh readers I wish you a belated Happy St. David's Day!
The Mametz Wood project is still ongoing, and I'm currently in the process of reading other poets' work on the subject to give me a grounding in how to write about the battle. First on my list is Owen Sheers' take on the battle, with his eponymously titled 'Mametz Wood'. It mainly deals with the aftermath of the battle, but it's still a haunting portrayal of the long-term consequences of the First World War. There is of course David Jones' In Parenthesis, considered the definitive and best work on Mametz Wood, which is the go-to source when researching the battle. Hopefully, with such a precedent for work about this key event in Welsh history, I will have a good chance at formulating my own take on it.
In other news I'm planning to take on National Poetry Writing Month this year. I'm hoping this time I can actually reach the end of the month with a poem each day, especially after I failed two years ago. Due to the fast writing schedule, it's a given that most poems written during NaPoWriMo aren't great, and having read through some of the poems I wrote last time I can see I've got a lot of room for improvement. We'll see how I do when April arrives.
Aside from NaPoWriMo, there's plenty of poetry to come in the next few days. I've got a couple of animal-themed poems on the go at the moment, as well as an experimental piece which is taking a bit longer than I thought. Hopefully it'll appear on this blog before April, but if it doesn't then it will probably be finished before the summer at the latest.
Anyway, hope you're all having a good week, and to any Welsh readers I wish you a belated Happy St. David's Day!
Thursday, 19 January 2017
New Silent Animal Poetry
Hi guys.
Just wanted to let you know that a new episode of Silent Animal Poetry is out on YouTube, the first in a long while. This time it's about a Roan antelope living on the savannah of East Africa. If you like poetry featuring antelope (which is a bit of a niche market to be honest) then check it out on my YouTube channel by following this link:
(Silent Animal Poetry Episode 5: Roan Antelope)
Also coming up, we've got more poetry, a few more articles and a further update on the Mametz Wood project.
Hope you're all having a good 2017 so far.
Just wanted to let you know that a new episode of Silent Animal Poetry is out on YouTube, the first in a long while. This time it's about a Roan antelope living on the savannah of East Africa. If you like poetry featuring antelope (which is a bit of a niche market to be honest) then check it out on my YouTube channel by following this link:
(Silent Animal Poetry Episode 5: Roan Antelope)
Also coming up, we've got more poetry, a few more articles and a further update on the Mametz Wood project.
Hope you're all having a good 2017 so far.
Monday, 9 January 2017
Update on Mametz Wood Project
Some of you may remember, back in 2015, I announced I was starting a long-term project related to the First World War. A lot has changed since I set myself that target, but I'm pleased to report that after a long hiatus, my poetic tribute to those who fought at the Battle of Mametz Wood is still on my to-do list.
Mametz Wood holds a profound place in Welsh memory. It was a mission by the 38th (Welsh) Division to capture the German-held position of Mametz Wood during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. An estimated 4,000 men of the Welsh Division lost their lives in the battle for the wood which saw a British victory over a heavily defended network of German trenches.
Many artists and poets have memorialised the events at Mametz Wood. The most famous example is the narrative poem 'In Parenthesis' by David Jones, who fought in the battle and provided the most vivid depiction of it. Others include the artist Christopher Williams, who painted The Welsh at Mametz Wood at the behest of David Lloyd George, and the more recent 'Mametz Wood' by Owen Sheers.
Following in footsteps such as these is certainly no easy task, but I will try my best.
Mametz Wood holds a profound place in Welsh memory. It was a mission by the 38th (Welsh) Division to capture the German-held position of Mametz Wood during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. An estimated 4,000 men of the Welsh Division lost their lives in the battle for the wood which saw a British victory over a heavily defended network of German trenches.
Many artists and poets have memorialised the events at Mametz Wood. The most famous example is the narrative poem 'In Parenthesis' by David Jones, who fought in the battle and provided the most vivid depiction of it. Others include the artist Christopher Williams, who painted The Welsh at Mametz Wood at the behest of David Lloyd George, and the more recent 'Mametz Wood' by Owen Sheers.
Following in footsteps such as these is certainly no easy task, but I will try my best.
Sunday, 17 May 2015
First World War Project Begins
So, as you can see the blog has had some redecoraters in. With so many new things on the horizon, the time has come to make the announcement I promised to make at the start of the week.
I've been talking about doing something to commemorate the centenary of the First World War for the last few months. More specifically, I wanted to commemorate something very specific about the First World War. This means that the project I'm announcing today won't cover the whole of the war, or won't be about the general themes and context which historians have been analysing for the last century. Instead it will be covering something that I've been interested in for a while, and which I'm finally tackling in writing form.
The battle at Mametz Wood as long been a focus of Welsh poets writing about the First World War. It's been written about by poets such as Owen Sheers and of course in the famous 'In Parenthesis' by David Jones who fought in the battle itself. It was a defining moment of the Battle of the Somme, and the assault by the Welsh Regiment upon German trenches in the wood was marked by the extraordinary courage displayed by the soldiers. It will be my task for the next year and a half to compose my own tribute to this little-known part of history. Whether I will succeed is yet to be seen, but I will do my best.
Hope you found this post informative and I'll see you with more poems and other good stuff soon.
I've been talking about doing something to commemorate the centenary of the First World War for the last few months. More specifically, I wanted to commemorate something very specific about the First World War. This means that the project I'm announcing today won't cover the whole of the war, or won't be about the general themes and context which historians have been analysing for the last century. Instead it will be covering something that I've been interested in for a while, and which I'm finally tackling in writing form.
The battle at Mametz Wood as long been a focus of Welsh poets writing about the First World War. It's been written about by poets such as Owen Sheers and of course in the famous 'In Parenthesis' by David Jones who fought in the battle itself. It was a defining moment of the Battle of the Somme, and the assault by the Welsh Regiment upon German trenches in the wood was marked by the extraordinary courage displayed by the soldiers. It will be my task for the next year and a half to compose my own tribute to this little-known part of history. Whether I will succeed is yet to be seen, but I will do my best.
Hope you found this post informative and I'll see you with more poems and other good stuff soon.
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