Exposure Flashcards
“Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knives us… Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent…” – Personification
A different viewpoint of the war as the wind is the enemy rather then the rivals. This terrible irony that nature itself is attacking the men and killing them presented as a divine punishment. The weather is defined as “merciless” due to the horror of war on land. Owen also conveys this with the assonance of the “I” which slows down the ryhme of the lines and mimics the exposure that the poet is feeling. Owen syllables are around 12 to 13 to mimic the length of time that the men are being exposed to the terrible conditions. “Night is silent” is what keeps them awake and this can be due to the psychological trauma that the men experience. The “silence” may suggest the lack of noise of the silent attacks from the enemy. He conveys how tiring it is to stay awake through the alliteration of the “w” which slows down the reader to suggest that time is slow.
Form and structure
Half ryhme is that it unsettles us, and Owen want peace, but it is clear at the end that doesn’t happen and the half ryhme mimics that.
Form – written in 5 lines with short line at the end. The repetition at the end of but nothing happens marks it as a political point. Which is the end of war. He wants the reader to be appal by the war and an end of it.
Context
This was written during WW1. It depicts the horrific conditions of war. Owen wanted to show the reality of war in contrast to the propaganda that was being feed to the British nation at home.
“Pause over half- known faces. All their eyes are ice, but nothing happens.” - metaphor
How the men are metaphorically dying and literally. The physical face of their “half known faces”. But the metaphor of “all their eyes are ice” may imply that they don’t know each other as well due to the lack of emotions to each other. War has taken away their feelings to empathise with others. The ambiguity of “nothing happens” may suggest they prefer a battle then a battle with nature. Another way would be a political point which is peace. But death could be seen as preferable then the harsh cold conditions.
“Dawn masses in the east her melancholy army Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey,” - imagery war and pathetic fallacy
The word “massing” suggests that there is much more danger from the weather then from the German soliders from the trenches. The use of pathetic fallacy being “melancholy” suggesting that nature is miserably reluctant to expel the great horror of war by nature. The repetition of “ranks” suggest that the attack of nature is endless. The effect of the weather makes the soliders “shiver”.
