Exposure Flashcards
What is the rhyme scheme in Exposure?
ABBA (Half Rhyme)
What is the effect of the rhyme scheme?
The ABBA rhyme scheme is very monotonous, mirroring the boredom of war. The build-up of rich imagery throughout each stanza builds tension, but the fifth line of each stanza creates an anti-climax, depicting the requirement of a soldier to constantly be on alert, yet nothing ever happens.
What form is the poem in?
Chaotic
What is the effect of the structure?
Mirrors the panic and chaos of war.
What are the structural techniques used?
Cyclical Structure
Anaphora
Caesura
Ellipses
What is the effect of the cyclical structure?
The last line of the first and last stanza is “but nothing happens”, connecting the beginning and end of the poem to emphasise the fact that nothing has happened within that time.
What is the effect of the anaphora?
“but nothing happens” highlights the futility of war, the situation never changes, despite their presence, so why even be there. The speaker then questions “what are we doing here” as even he is unsure.
What is the effect of caesura?
The punctuation separates home from the trenches as the soldiers reminisce and imagine the warmth of their homes with “sunk fires glozed” and “crusted dark-red jewels”
What is the effect of ellipses?
The first three lines end with ellipses, to further emphasise the boredom and waiting of the soldiers. This slows the pace of the poem and forces the reader to experience the same frustration that the soldier does as they wait for something to happen.
Good quotes
“merciless iced winds that knife us”
“sunk fires, glozed / With crusted dark-red jewels”
“For love of God seems dying”
“sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence”
Analysis of “merciless iced winds that knive us”
The personification of the weather within the first line of the poem, not the Germans, but rather the weather. The personification is sinister, to instil fear into the reader. The sibilance here helps begin the semantic field of coldness, contrasting with the field of warmth later in the play.
Analysis of “sunk fires, glozed / With crusted dark-red jewels”
The semantic field contrast from the 6th stanza to the rest of the poem is very clear, as all the men reminisce on their prior lives.
Analysis of “For love of God seems dying”
The religious reference here implies there is a lack of morality remaining in the situation, highlighting the cruelty as a man who was once in the seminary, is doubting his own beliefs in God.
Analysis of “sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence”
The sibilance here further entrenches nature’s position as the true enemy of the poem, with the sibilant consonance mirroring the sound of gunfire showing that the snow is the real and more immediate threat than the “gunnery rumbles” that the speaker can hear in the distance.
