Exposure Flashcards
Our brains ache
Symbolises the physical and mental suffering caused by the psychological impacts of warfare
knive us…
Violent personification of the weather shows contempt for the conditions the soldiers are in, painting a bleak atmosphere for the soldiers which contrasts the patriotic poems released about war at the time
Highlights the power of nature by making it out to be a military threat and emphasises the vulnerability of the soldiers
Worried by silence… flares confuse our memories of the salient…
Symbolises the physical and mental suffering caused by the psychological impacts of warfare
Sibilance and ellipsis symbolises silence
whisper, curious, nervous
Sibilance and tripartite structure and asyndetic listing
Symbolising the stress of war with a rushed, panicked pace
But nothing happens.
Repetition of phrase emphasises hopelessness and monotony
Reflects bleak atmosphere
Contrasts violence of war with an anti-climatic end to each stanza, highlighting the futility of war
twitching agonies
Allusion to death of soldiers, making readers uncomfortable
Shows how soldiers are distanced, disassociated, desensitised, normalised
What are we doing here?
Questions the motivations to fight, emphasises futility of war
Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence
Sibilance and fricatives parallel the sound of bullets moving through the air
air that shudders black with snow
wind’s nonchalance
Juxtaposes the normally nurturing portrayal of nature to malicious, murderous, death-like connotations highlighting that the weather is more likely to kill them than the war
Is it that we are dying?
Derealisation
Detachment
Loss of identity
crusted dark-red jewels
Opulence of blood is an unnatural description compared to usual disgust at the sight
Disturbing
Detachment
not otherwise can kind fires burn
Resignation and normalisation of their suffering
therefore were born,
Comments on the moral duty of the soldiers to protect those at home, reminiscent of family and religious duty
For love of God seems dying
Parallels Jesus dying to save humanity, portraying those who die as martyrs, however simultaneously challenging whether they needed to die as it’s difficult for the persona to reconcile the love of a benevolent God with the reality of the conflict killing so many.
His frost
God’s plan
