anthology: exposure.

Question 1

what is the meaning and purpose of this text?

Answer 1

 Speaker describes war as a battle against the weather and conditions.
 Imagery of cold and warm reflect the delusional mind of a man dying from hypothermia.
 Owen wanted to draw attention to the suffering, monotony and futility of war.

Question 2

what is the context of the text?

Answer 2

 Written in 1917 before Owen went on to win the Military Cross for bravery and was then killed in battle in 1918: the poem has authenticity as it is written by an actual soldier.
 Of his work, Owen said: “My theme is war and the pity of war”.
 Despite highlighting the tragedy of war and mistakes of senior commanders, he had a deep sense of duty: “not loath, we lie out here” shows that he was not bitter about his suffering.

Question 3

language and structure: explanation and quotes.

Answer 3

 “Our brains ache” physical (cold) suffering and mental (PTSD or shell shock) suffering. Semantic field of weather: weather is the enemy.
 “the merciless iced east winds that knive us…” – personification (cruel and murderous wind); sibilance (cutting/slicing sound of wind); ellipsis (never-ending).
 Repetition of pronouns ‘we’ and ‘our’ – conveys togetherness and collective suffering of soldiers.
 ‘mad gusts tugging on the wire’ – personification
 Repetition of “but nothing happens” creates circular structure implying never ending suffering.
Pararhymes (half rhymes) (“nervous / knife us”) only barely hold the poem together, like the men.