Exposure Flashcards
What is thecontext of the poem
The poem is written from the point of view of a WW1 soldier describing living through the misery, boredom and icy weather conditions during a night in the trenches. The weather is presented as the real enemy of the soldiers.
What can you infer from the title
The title could refer to the weather that the soldiers are ‘expos[ed]’.
However, Owen is also “expos[ing]” the harsh, undignified aspects of conflict that are never portrayed in propaganda or poems glorifying war.
What are the key ideas about misery at war
As with other poems by Owen, the poem focuses on aspects of war that are not glamorous.
Unlike the propaganda materials that focused on the glory, that war would bring to the soldiers and the heroes they would become, this poem reveals the horrific day-to-day misery experienced by those who went to war.
Loss of humanity
There is a sense that the men lose their humanity and dignity. This is suggested through phrases such as “Slowly, our ghosts drag home” and “we cringe in holes”.
This depiction is the antithesis (opposite) to images of heroism soldiers would have seen before the war.
Pointlessness of war
The pointlessness of war is emphasised throughout. The speaker in the poem seems to have lost sight of what he is fighting for.
Weather and boredom
The weather and boredom are presented as the real enemy of the soldiers.
The soldiers are anxious and afraid and each new day brings no hope but more misery and despair.
Lasting effects of war
The speaker hints at the fact that war changes the soldiers irreversibly as they no longer fit in when they return home.
The negative consequences of war are lasting.
Our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knive us
The sibilance also highlights the intensity of the pain and the brutality of the weather.
Personification
Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow
Nature is presented as more damaging and deadly than the bullets
Personification
Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces
The consonance (repetition of consonant sounds) here reflects the ferocity of the weather.
Additional ideas
Contradition-Dawn, usually associated with ideas of light and hope, is here hostile and brings even more suffering.
Colour imagery-The colour imagery “grey” conveys ideas of despair and boredom.
Ranks” is a military term and is repeated, reminding the reader that the weather is the soldiers’ enemy.
Quotes for bleak imagery
War lasts, rain soaks and clouds sag stormy
The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow”
How does owen use rhetorical questions
Rhetorical questions suggest the pointlessness of war.
They make the reader question why we allow soldiers to be exposed to such suffering:
“What are we doing here?”
“Is it that we are dying?”
How does owen use repertition
Repetition of “but nothing happens” throughout the poem gives the readers a sense of the boredom caused by waiting.
It hints at the pointlessness of war.
What is a metaphoric idea
Slowly, our ghosts drag home”
This metaphor suggests that war has sucked all the life out of the soldiers.
It also reminds readers that they are on the brink of death.
“All their eyes are ice”
This metaphor describes the extreme effects of the weather.
It implies the soldiers have lost their humanity and are close to breaking point.
