Exposure

Question 1

Who is the poet?

Answer 1

Wildred Owen

Question 2

What is the tone of this poem?

Answer 2

Slow, sluggish, passive
It is deliberately monotonous, which makes it depressing
This is the WRITERS INTENT

Question 3

What is the poems purpose?

Answer 3

It describes Owen’s WW1 experiences in the freezing trenches
It focuses on the FUTILITY of war

Question 4

What is the purpose of the cyclical structure?

Answer 4

Begins & ends with nothing happening
Highlights futility of war, NOTHING is repeating, or you could say repeated trauma - day in, day out

Question 5

Summarise the structure of this poem?

Answer 5

8 regular stanza’s with 5 lines
Repetition ‘but nothing happens’
Rhetorical questions
Collective voice
Half rhymes
Cyclical structure

Question 6

What does the regular structure represent?
(8 stanzas, 5 lines)

Answer 6

Regimented, ordered and controlled.
Reflects military life.

Question 7

What is the purpose of the repetition ‘but nothing happens’?

Answer 7

The rhyme pattern is broken. This is anticlimactic after a beat. Represents the monotony and disappointment of war.

Question 8

What are the purpose of rhetorical questions? (And give an example)

Answer 8

Searching, philosophical questions - questioning the point of war.
‘What are we doing here?’

Question 9

What do I mean but collective voice?

Answer 9

The use of ‘our’ and ‘we’ tells us that this is a shared experience of all the WW1 soldiers, not just Owen. This adds weight to what he says and makes it more believable.

Question 10

Describe the rhythmic structure of the stanzas?

Answer 10

Pararhyme - the ending consonants are the same, but soldiers/reader are denied the satisfaction of full rhyme. - ‘knive us/nervous’
3 part structure- ABBAC

Question 11

Why is the title ‘Exposure’ a dual meaning?

Answer 11

1. The soldiers are out in the open, exposed by the weather - physically and mentally vulnerable
2. Owen is also trying to expose the reality of war and propaganda

Question 12

What is the purpose of personification? (& example)

Answer 12

‘Clouds sag stormy’
‘Pale flakes with fingering stealth’
Highlights how the weather is more dangerous than the enemy.
Both are killing the soldiers.

Question 13

2 key points to use in your answer?

Answer 13

Structure:
Regular/regimented ect
Repetition
Collective voice
Cyclical

Language:
Personification
Pathetic fallacy

Question 14

Quotes to use for your answer?

Answer 14

Structure:
“But nothing happens”
“Knive us, nervous”
“What are we doing here?”

Language:
“Clouds sag stormy”
“Pale flakes with fingering stealth”