Comparison : Exposure and COTLB

Question 1

Comparison Points

Answer 1

S1. INESCAPABILITY OF WAR they have no choice and no free will

D2. WAYS IN WHICH THEY PORTRAY OPPOSITION IN WAR. Opposition is different in both - In COTLB its the opposite army, but in exposure it is the conditions

D3. WAYS IN WHICH THEY PORTRAY SOLDIERS IMPORTANCE. In COTLB, soldiers are honoured and valued, however in exposure, the soldiers are neglected and forgotten

D4. WAYS IN WHICH THEY PERCIEVE WAR. COTLB, war is exciting and full of action. Exposure is dull, monotonous and repetitive

Question 2

Evidence for S1

“Inescapability of war through no free will, expendibility”

Answer 2

COTLB

• “Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die” - No choice, inescapable
• “Into the jaws of hell” - Cannot argue commands even if it is to charge into death and ‘hell’

Exposure

• “What are we doing here?” - inescapable misery
• “Poignant misery” - Cannot escape it
• “On us the doors are closed” - They cannot return

Question 3

Evidence for D2

“In COTLB the opposition is the Russian side, but in Exposure it is the conditions”

Answer 3

COTLB

• “Cannon to the right of them, left, in front” - Anaphora emphasises danger
• “Into the valley of death” - Biblical reference to emphasise significance of situation. Tennyson’s audience would understand this so it would emphasise danger
• “Volley’d Thunder’d” - Archaic versions of words echoing danger they’re in

Exposure

• “Merciless iced winds that knive us” - Brutality of weather
• “her melancholy army attacks once more in ranks on shivering grey ranks” - Conditions are an ‘army’ in itself
• “Tonight, this frost will fasten on this mud and us” - Frost will cause them to die

Question 4

Evidence for D3

“In COTLB, soldiers are honoured and valued, however in exposure, the soldiers are neglected and forgotten”

Answer 4

COTLB

• “Noble six hundred”
• “Horse and hero fell”
• “Honour the light brigade”
• “Boldly they rode”
• “All the world wonder’d”
• “Glory”

Exposure
- “Forgotten dreams”
- “On us the doors are closed” - Forgotten, doors have been shut on them
- “We turn back to our dying” - Simple, implies insignificance
- “For love of God seems dying” - Even God has forgotten about them
“But nothing happens” - repetition, demonstrates insignificance

Question 5

Evidence for D4

“In COTLB, war is exciting and full of action, in Exposure it is monotonous, demoralising, repetitive”

Answer 5

COTLB

• “half rhymes” (Brigade, said) - defies expectations, echoes excitement
• “Volley’d and Thunder’d” - Action, exciting
• “All the world wonder’d”

Exposure

• “But nothing happens” - Repetition
• “What are we doing here?” - Lack of action
• “Flights of bullets streak the silence” - No danger
• “Is it that we are dying?” In COTLB, they die in honour, here it is anticlimactic how their death in war is so boring

Question 6

Context for COTLB

Answer 6

• Charge was a big mistake

- Poet denies this

Question 7

Context for Exposure

Answer 7

• Owen wanted to defy the myth of it being valiant to die for your country
• He suffered through shell shock
• Critical of war and its impact on soldiers