Exposure Flashcards
in the merciless iced east winds that knive us…
Sibilant ’s’ and alliterative ‘w’ sounds in ‘iced east winds’ — consonances that convey the biting cold, the intensity of the wind that hurts them as if stabbed with a knife.
The wind is personified, suggesting that it is like a deliberately vicious and inescapable enemy
Assonant ‘i’ sounds that slow down the rhythm of lines, mimicking the ‘exposure’ being felt.
‘But nothing happens.’
Repeated in stanzas 1, 3, 4 and 8. The effect of the repetition emphasises Owen’s belief that the war is futile, therefore the soldiers are serving little function at great costs.
Ironic- soldiers feel like nothing is happening but they’re slowly and surely dying
‘Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous…’
Owen conveys the idea of fear through adjectives -‘curious, nervous’.
Sibilance could mirror whispering of soldiers and also the wind whistling in a cruel, harsh way.
‘Worried by silence’ links back to line 2- ‘night is silent’. Repetition reinforces idea of silence that means not safety, but tension and fear of unknown
‘Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war’
Soldiers are weary and jaded from war, so much so they feel detached from it - ‘dull rumour’
Could also suggest that battles with enemies become less threatening than perils of the weather
‘Flowing flakes that flock’
Alliteration emphasises the relentlessness of the snow. Emphasises ‘f’ sounds highlights cold and heavy blanketing of weather
‘Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence’
Sibilance mimics whistling sound of bullets flying past. Harsh assonance and consonance sounds of ‘s’ and ‘t’ link weather and gunfire, and therefore conflict and pain
‘We turn our back to dying’
Ironically casual- Owen expresses this almost nonchalantly; the soldiers are waiting and expecting to die.
Ambiguous- could refer to wounded soldiers-turning back to be either physically or spiritually close to their comrades.
‘All their eyes are ice’
Could refer to already dead soldiers freezing or to burying party, so close to death that soldiers are numb.
Tears could possibly be frozen. ‘eyes’ and ‘ice’ are near homophones that emphasise their closeness.