Throughout Owen Sheers' collection Skirrid Hill (2005), nature is presented as a significant factor in both the development of identity personal and cultural and human relationships. In “Mametz Wood” and “Father,” the speaker's attachment to the land is evident. However, going beyond simply describing the natural world, Sheers draws attention to how nature played a role in these speakers' lives by exploring nature's impact on humans in general. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In "Mametz Wood", nature is presented as a powerful force, although influenced by humans and their creation, both are inextricably linked. Describing the excavated fragments of the soldiers as: "A piece of bone, the porcelain plate of a shoulder blade" and "a broken bird's egg of a skull", Sheers compares the birth of a new life and the fragility of the human body . with the impact of their violent history. The harsh, explosive monosyllabic sounds bite like bullets, evoking in the reader's mind a strong visual image of the battle that took place. The alliteration of the 'ch' sound could also allude to the farmer's plough, which unearths the remains of "wasted youth [...] while it cared for the earth itself". This cyclical notion highlights the futility of war, perhaps alluding to the speaker's criticism of the military, and although the soldiers may be dead, the land will always remember them. The use of the verb "tended" here suggests that the farmers care for the land, contrasting the army's treatment of nature, as if seeking to comfort and rehabilitate it. This notion is carried forward in the fourth stanza, where "the earth stands sentinel, / turns inward to remember what has happened." By personifying the earth, Sheers implies that nature will cherish these fallen soldiers and their memories. While the second line draws strong links to the first stanza, once again a reference to the cyclical theme, the speaker creates a sense of reflection and retrospection: the land keeps the soldiers connected to the present by reliving their past, bringing it to light in a way that they may are not forgotten. Although each tercet of "Mametz Wood" consists of a single phrase, they are unified by the message they convey and by the fact that nature protects what is repressed, bringing it to the surface. In “Father,” the speaker draws strong connections between the hill that father and son are climbing and their personal relationship, highlighting the impact that nature can have on a human connection. It is significant that Sheers chooses the Skirrid: “It was then that we climbed the Skirrid again,” as it serves as an extended metaphor for the physical and emotional distance that has grown between the two, and this shared annual tradition is one way to overcome this challenge. Describing the physical characteristics of the hill, with "that soft cleft of the earth / cracked they say for a father's grief / for the loss of his son to man" Sheers alludes to the myth surrounding Skirrid Hill, according to which it was formed at the moment of crucifixion for the pain of God. In this case, however, it could also refer to a father's sadness at having lost his son in adulthood, to the inevitability that his son will no longer be a boy. The earth's connection to the couple is delineated again midway through the poem, when the speaker describes his father, his "bowed head the color of the rocks, / your breath reaching me, short, sharp and lonely." By connecting his elderly father to the ancient rocks, the speaker strikes a balance between the first half.