Mametz Wood Quizzes

Mametz Wood Quiz

1 What historical event is this poem based on?
The 38th (Welsh) Division fought for control of Mametz Wood during World War Two.

The 38th (Welsh) Division fought for control of Mametz Wood during World War One.

The Germans fought for control of Mametz Wood during World War Two.

The 39th (Welsh) Division fought for control of Mametz Wood during World War One.
2 What is the form and meter of the poem?
Six tercets written in free verse.

Six tercets written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Seven tercets written in free verse.

Seven tercets written in iambic pentameter.
3 Describe the narrator of the poem.
Unspecified perspective of someone visiting the scene of the historic battle at Mametz Wood in the present day.

Unspecified perspective of someone visiting the scene of the historic battle at Mametz Wood using a time machine.

First-person perspective of a skeleton.

First-person perspective of soldier.
4 Which of the following is a simile that best communicates what the poet argues must be done in the present day?
"like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin" (Line 12)

"as if the notes they had sung / have only now, with this unearthing, / slipped from their absent tongues" (Lines 19-21)

"the earth stands sentinel" (Line 10)

"nesting machine guns" (Line 9)
5 Which of the following best describes the purpose of the metaphors employed in the second stanza?
They portray the earth as a sentinel.

They imply a responsibility on the part of the reader.

They might suggest the soldiers' bones.

They provide explicit comparisons with the soldiers' bones.
6 Which of the following is an example of consonance?
"a chit of bone, the china plate of a shoulder blade" (Line 4)

"in boots that outlasted them," (Line 16)

"all mimicked now in flint...in white" (Line 7)

"as if the notes they had sung" (Line 19)
7 Which is an example of assonance?
"a chit of bone, the china plate of a shoulder blade" (Line 4)

"like a wound working a foreign body" (Line 12)

"...broken bird's egg..." (Line 6)

"nesting machine guns" (Line 9)
8 Which best describes the tone of the poem?
reflective, bleak, and straightforward

reflective, bleak, and mocking

reflective, optimistic, and assertive

peaceful, nostalgic, and airy
9 What is significant about the fact that it is farmers that find the bones in the poem?
The work of farmers is to sustain human life by growing food. Their slow work and connection to nature alludes to the violence of war.

The work of farmers is to sustain armies by growing food. They must work fast to meet the demand.

The work of farmers is to sustain human life by growing food. Their slow work and connection to nature contrasts with the violence of war.

The work of farmers is to sustain human life by growing food. During the war, they had to give up their plows and fight.
10 Describe an example of irony in the poem.
The skeletons of the soldiers are uncovered "in boots that outlasted them," (Line 16).

It is farmers who find the bones.

The bones have not been unearthed until recently.

The earth is personified as a guard.
11 Who is/are the protagonist(s) of the poem?
The young men killed in battle.

The archaeologists who uncover the grave.

The farmers who uncover the bones.

The speaker.
12 What is the climax of the poem?
When the earth stands sentinel, "reaching back into itself for reminders of what happened" (Line 11).

When farmers come across the remains of soldiers as they plow the field.

When thirty soldiers are discovered buried with linked arms, their skeletons "paused mid dance-macabre" (Line 15).

When twenty soldiers are discovered buried with linked arms, their skeletons "paused mid dance-macabre" (Line 15).
13 Describe an example of foreshadowing that appears in the poem.
The "boots that outlasted them" foreshadows the "notes they had sung" (Lines 16 and 19).

The "broken bird's egg of a skull" foreshadows the skeletons paused mid dance-macabre (Lines 6 and 15).

Farmers uncovering the bones of soldiers as they "tended the land back into itself" foreshadows the earth tenting to its wound (Line 3).

Farmers uncovering the bones of soldiers as they "tended the land back into itself" foreshadows that they will discover the grave of soldiers with linked arms (Line 3).
14 What collection was this poem published in?
Owen Sheers's 2005 Skirrid Hill

Owen Sheers's 2006 The Blue Book

Owen Sheers's 2006 Y Gaer

Owen Sheers's 2007 Skirrid Hill
15 What is personified in the poem?
The soldiers' boots

The farmers' plows

The earth

The broken bird's egg
16 Which best expresses the poet's message concerning the theme of war?
"all mimicked now in flint, breaking blue in white / across this field..." (Lines 7-8)

"...the earth stands sentinel, / reaching back into itself for reminders of what happened / like a wound..." (Lines 10-12)

"paused mid dance-macabre" (Line 15)

The "broken bird's egg of a skull" (Line 6)
17 What does the quote "mid dance-macabre" mean?
The skeletons are celebrating Dia de los Muertos.

This is the allegorical Dance of Death from the Medieval art form.

Dancing skeletons are horrible.

This is the allegorical Dance of Death from the Renaissance art form.
18 When does the poem take place?
The poem situates itself in the future.

The poem takes place in the present.

The poet moves between the past and the present.

The poem takes place in the past.
19 Which best describes the contrast apparent in the phrase "nesting machine guns" (Line 9)?
The word "nesting" evokes an animal building a shelter for itself and its young, which is something that machine guns are obviously able to do.

It makes it seem as though the guns belong there as part of the natural landscape.

The word "nesting" evokes the danger and violence inherent in machine guns.

The word "nesting" evokes hope for the future.
20 What is something in this poem that appears in other works by the poet?
Nature is personified in order to become more like humans.

Humans love nature.

Nature is personified in order to model something humans must learn.

The earth must deal with humanity like a "wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin" (Line 12)
21 What is most significant about the grave with the twenty men?
The grave was looted.

Someone had taken the time to arrange them with linked arms.

They are dancing.

They are found in the present day of the poem.
22 Who are the wasted young?
The poem's implied readers

The farmers

The men who fought and died in the Battle of the Marne

The men who fought and died in the Battle of Mametz Wood
23 Where does the poem use enjambment?
In between the description of the skeletons paused mid dance-macabre and the detail that they wear boots that decayed along with them.

In between the description of the skeletons paused mid dance-macabre and the detail that they are a broken mosaic of bone.

In between the description of the skeletons paused mid dance-macabre and the detail that they wear boots that the notes they had sung can be heard.

In between the description of the skeletons paused mid dance-macabre and the detail that they wear boots that outlasted them.
24 What line does the detail about the "broken bird's egg of a skull" best connect to?
The nesting machine guns

Their socketed heads tilted back at an angle

The china plate of a shoulder blade

The earth stands sentinel
25 Which line best exemplifies the poet's attitude about war?
"the wood and its nesting machine guns" (Line 9)

"the wasted young" (Line 2)

"the relic of a finger" (Line 5)

"breaking blue in white" (Line 7)

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