In-depth essay plan on the theme of Conflict in Skirrid Hill. Covers an introduction, paragraphs, and a conclusion. it has quotes, poetry terms, references, interpretations, context etc. All you need to write an A standard answer to the exam question.
English Literature A | Skirrid Hill - Marking Time Notes
English Literature A | Skirrid Hill - Night Windows Notes
English Literature A | Skirrid Hill - Show Notes
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Examine the presentation of conflict.
Intro: Sheers presents the theme of conflict between humans in relationships and also conflict between man and nature.
The collection leaves the impression that conflict exists wherever humans exist.
Mametz Wood:
Violence- the title is significant because it is a reference to the Battle of the Somme illustrating
the prominent theme of the poem; war. The semantic field of combat creates and inescapability
of death that mimics when the soldiers were ordered to “walk not run” to their demise. The
repetitive ‘b’ sound in “blown”, “broken birds” creates a plosive, aggressive sound from the
mouth. The fragility of human life is shown by the metaphors of “china plate” bones and “birds’
egg of a skull”. Suggesting that violence inevitably ends in death.
Man vs Nature-the industrial “plough blades” break and “chit” the “shoulder blades” of skeletons
in the earth. The use of the noun “blade” as a weapon and biological anatomical term arguable
emphasises the idea man and nature are at war with each other. Sheers could also be criticising
humans are killing themselves by inventing machinery that causes damage, and the machinery is
ultimately stronger than nature. He describes the Earth as a “wound” that works a “foreign body
to the surface of the skin”. This portrays the ground rejecting an object in the same way a literal
“wound” rejects bacteria, hence paralleling humans’ threat to nature as a pathogenic disease.
Again, the military lexis of “wound” and “foreign body” reinforce the literal effect of war- bodies
of multiple nationalities scatter a battlefield. Sheers goes on to invert the connotations of the
“woods”; usually regarded as a place of security where birds nest, the “machine guns” are instead
“nesting”. Arguably the verb “nesting” implies the machinery has taken over and colonised the
natural landscape such as a new predator would. Sheers perhaps is criticising the modern
concept of humans’ destroying nature by industry and violence and foreshadowing the sinister
consequences.
Solidarity- camaraderie is present through times of the greatest conflict. He juxtaposes the
“broken” “skeletons” with the imagery of their “linked arm(s)”. The unity of the Welsh Division
soldiers is reinforced with the songs “they had sung” in the trenches, was used to keep morals
high. Sheers uses the medieval reference of the “mid-dance-macabre” of death leading all
people, regardless of rank to their graves. Its symbolic of the equality of human life, the unity that
death reaches everyone despite class, rank or ethnic differences. Sheers is therefore arguing that
in diabolic situation such as war, humans will unite.
Drinking with Hitler:
‘Hitler’- leader of Zimbabwe “War Veterans” which were a violent group of individuals who aimed
to take back farmland from white farmers often brutally injuring many innocent citizens. Hence
basis that the poem is formed is from real conflict in Zimbabwe
Semantic fields of fire and violence- “burned”, “scorched” and “cauterised” conjure imagery of an
out of control radicalised group that are incinerating everything they touch. The “5 th brigade
trucks” connotate military yet this is a group of law breakers, rebelling against society. Similar to
Mametz Wood, a group of male individuals find unity ironically in the extremist levels of conflict;
war.
Between humans- tyrannical behaviour as he “wears his power like aftershave” giving a
dominating imagery of masculinity. This is opposed to the “pretty” and “delicate” woman “at his
side”. It is clear her desires females to be “quiet” and submissive to the point of trying to ignore
the “hand on her thigh”. Fear? Keen to start “washing him away” and comforting where he laid
touch on her. Presents a conflict between the sexes.
Conclusion: There is clear theme of conflict throughout the collection. Physical conflict is envisaged with war and military
imagery in both Drinking with Hitler and Mametz Wood. Conflict is heavily emphasised between the two sexes, creating
friction is most sexual orientate relationships seen in Drinking with Hitler and other poems such as Marking time and Night
Windows. However, it would be ignorant to ignore the sense of unity Sheers manages to convey throughout his collection;
albeit through times of conflict, identity or family that unites us. It concludes that Sheers presents war and conflict to be an
extant trait of human nature.
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