Exposure Flashcards
Form
- Great tension in the form. Every stanza has 5 lines, which are all the same length with a short final line on each one, suggest that the poem is in control, which juxtaposes the reality of war, which shows that the soldiers must convince themselves they are in control in order to survive in the terrible conditions
- Short final lines don’t rhyme with each other or anything else in the poem, but the repetition of “but nothing happens” is a reframe throughout the poem, which marks it out as a political message for war to end.
Structure and context
- Owen draws out length of sentences by using an extended number of syllables throughout his poem in order to extend the poem in order to mimic the time that these men are being exposed to these terrible conditions, which will kill them
- Use of half rhymes of “us” and “nervous” and “silent” and “salient”, used because it unsettles us and it seems as if it is going to give us something rounded and neat but in reality it doesn’t. The poet wants a neat solution to the war (just like in the last stanza) but “nothing happens”. Also representing how patriotic propaganda fooled soldiers into expecting a neat war, which highlights brutal reality of war
First quote
“Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us…Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent”
First quote analysis
- Irony : We imagine that the danger from is the enemy but here it is instead from nature, which is attacking the men - this is a reaction from nature turning against the barbaric actions of man to kill them, nature is part of some divine punishment helping to show that although nature is not alive it seems as if it has control over its actions and has more power than humans, although nature is not alive it is still working together to harm humans to protect itself, helping to show how nature is more intelligent and powerful than humans as nature is able to work together to form an army
- Assonance of “i”: Slows down rhythm of the lines, and mimics the exposure that the poet is feeling in the iced winds helping to show the power of nature
- Juxtaposition: night is silent but they are awake? suggests that in war everything turned upside down, and out expectations for things no longer work like in normal life. “silent” may suggest that the enemy is getting ready for an attack helping to show the terrible physiological effects created by war such as insomnia
Second quote
“Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army attacks once more in ranks of shivering grey”
second quote analysis
Personification: Nature is now arming it’s self and is better armoured than the soldiers in war. Emphasised by the verb “massing” which helps to suggest how nature is more intimidating than the German soldiers in the trenches
Pathetic fallacy: The weather is melancholy reflecting the emotions of the men, also suggesting that nature its also miserable. it doesn’t want to attack this army but is reluctantly feeling it has to do it in order to expel the horrors of war from nature
Repetition of “ranks: Shows the attacks from nature are endless, and the soldiers have no control over natures overruling powers. which is also emphasised by the assonance of “r”
Third Quote
“So we drowse, sun-dozed, littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses - Is it that we are dying?”
Third quote analysis
- SYMBOLISM: Uses a description of summer, however he is describing things which he can see. The “blossoms” that he sees are white, which he is seeing the snow. The sounds of the winds that are bringing the “melancholy clouds” are now like the sounds of the “blackbird”, but they are irritating sounds, and even in his summer memory here, he is irritated by that sound, just like he is irritated like the wind now.
- JUXTAPOSITION: “blossoms” have connotations of warmth and beauty but Owen describes them as “littered” which shows that Owen feels like the snow is rubbish and is in his way showing his irritation.
- SEMANTIC FIELD OF RELAXATION: When we “drowse” in the sun and become “sun-dozed” it creates the image of relaxation and sleepiness, which in this case would be a threat, because if you sleep in these harsh conditions you will freeze to death. Helping to show once again that everything in war is not how you think it is and is upside down
- SIBLINACE: It is seductive which is being used ironically, because nature is seducing him to go to sleep in the cold in order to kill him, this is the enemy tactic in which he must avoid
Fourth Quote
“Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born, For love of God seems dying
Fourth quote analysis
DOUBLE MEANING OF “LIE”: Suggesting that we are lying when we say that there is a good patriotic reason for our fighting, which reflects how Owen was furious about the conduct of war and wrote about it frequently, in many poems expressing the same views. The soldiers are lying to themselves when they say that there is a reason for patriotism.
METAPHOR: Suggesting that love is dying, especially “of God”, and war is the proof of that, because if we actually loved god we couldn’t possibly go to war. God would disapprove of war in the first place and that’s why we have the commandment “thou shalt not kill”
Fifth quote
“Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice, But nothing happens.”
Fifth quote analysis
METAPHOR: The men are both literally and metaphorically dying. The literally death in conveyed in the “half-known faces” which they are burying, it may suggest that they have died quickly and haven’t lasted long during war, and so there hasn’t been time to get to know them. Another interpretation could be is that they have been there for a long time but the soldiers are deliberately not knowing each other because they didn’t want to form emotional attachments, knowing the pain of those friends deaths would be much worse, that if they haven’t treated them as friends.
SYMBOLISM OF NATURE: Dead soldiers eyes are now like ice, but also that the bodies are also literally frozen stiff, from their death, suggesting that nature has taken over the human body just like it took over during the battle and irritated the soldiers . But this is also a description of the effects of war on individuals as they their eyes have become cold like ice in the sense that war has made the soldiers completely unfeeling and taken away their ability to empathise.
USE OF HOMOPHONE OF “eyes”: use of homophone “ eyes” to “i” to show that their identity and their personality has become ice, so they are completely unable to feel.
QUESTIONING: We begin to wonder what Wilfred wanted to happen. An interpretation could be that the death at the hands of the bitter winter is worse than being shot during warfare, they would prefer battle than the deadly cold. Another interpretation could be he wants something political to happen to end war and find a solution to war because he wants peace. It could also be a release from war through death, could be suggesting that death is preferable to what is currently happening
