exposure

Question 1

what is the opening line of the poem? what technique is used here and what does it do?

Answer 1

“our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knife us”

personification - its unexpected as we expect the fight to be between the soldiers not between them and the weather

Question 2

give a quote where sibilance is used to act as the wind

Answer 2

“worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous”

Question 3

give a quote where manmade weapons are likened to nature? what is the effect of this?

Answer 3

“we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire like twitching agonies of men among its brambles”

this simile shows how mans war is a cheap imitation of nature

Question 4

give a rhetorical question that highlights the hopelessness of soldiers and war

Answer 4

“what are we doing here?”

Question 5

what technique is used in “the poignant misery of dawn”?

Answer 5

contrast - dawn is meant to be positive

Question 6

what is the effect of the repeated “but nothing happens”?

Answer 6

show the helplessness of the soldiers

Question 7

give a quote where assonance and consonance are used to show pain and conflict

Answer 7

“sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence”

Question 8

give the quote where alliteration descibes the snow like a blanket

Answer 8

“with sidelong flowing flakes that flock”

Question 9

give a quote where man is anamalised showing how men are no different to animals

Answer 9

“we cringe in holes”

Question 10

give a rhetorical question that shows the confusion of the soldiers and how they are so used to awful conditions that they wouldnt be able to tell if they were dying

Answer 10

“Is it that we are dying?”

Question 11

give a metaphor that describes blood and the effect it has

Answer 11

“with crusted dark-red jewels”

shows men’s lives as valuable and ultimately wasted

Question 12

give a quote where the men feel abandoned by God

Answer 12

“for God’s invincible spring our love is made afraid”

Question 13

what is the effect of the scattered punctuation?

Answer 13

it slows the pace and creates the image of a soldier dying

Question 14

what is the technique in “all their eyes are ice” and what does it do?

Answer 14

metaphor

cold and dead but also empty and without a soul

Question 15

what is the effect of “but nothing happens” being the last line of the poem?

Answer 15

emphasise how the process doesnt end

Question 16

who is the conflict between in this poem? why is this relevant?

Answer 16

man and nature (weather)

man has created machines that can blow up the whole landscape and yet nature can still do more harm than them

Question 17

describe the structure of this poem?

Answer 17

uses a large amount of ellipses, caesuras and repetition to create a sense of waiting and boredom

eight stanzas that end with a half line - sameness

para-rhyme (words that appear to rhyme but dont when read out) showing unsettledness