Exposure

Question 1

Language

Answer 1

“Our brains ache”
- “ache” could be their longing and desire to go home
- connotes pain due to the detrimental psychological decline at war

Sibilance
“Our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knive us”
- Sibilance highlighting the intensity of the pain and the brutality of the weather
-personification of the winds
-pathetic fallacy
- semantic field of weather

present tense participle
“ twitching” “flickering” “tugging”
suggests that they are constantly in pain and agony
- it also prolongs their pain

“Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow”
The word ‘shudder’ could be symbolic of the bullets in the warzone
- nature is presented as more deadly than bullets
- the word “black” has connotations of death and evil, but also used to connote authority in the middle ages/medieval times (link to the authority of the weather)
“flakes that flock, pause and renew”
- triple verbs suggests that the weather is premeditating its attack
- the word “flock” is usually a large group of birds. It suggests that nature is outnumbering the men
“pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces”
- consonance reflecting the ferocity of the weather

“Slowly our ghosts drag home”
- metaphor suggesting that war has sucked life out of the soldiers
- they are at the brink of death
- gothic imagery

Question 2

Imagery

Answer 2

Owen uses bleak imagery to highlight the misery of the soldiers e.g.
“War lasts, rain soaks and clouds sag stormy”
- sibilance
- Owen evokes sympathy from the readers

“The poignant misery of dawn”
- “poignant” meaning to prick/sadness
-“dawn” is contradicted because usually its associated with light and new beginnings however here it brings suffering and the repetitive brink of death
“ranks of grey”
military language “ranks” suggests weather is their enemy
the adjective “grey” connotes boredom and despair

“but nothing happens”
- sense of boredom created by the antithesis

“Slowly our ghosts drag home”

Question 3

Rhythm and form

Answer 3

5 line stanzas called quintain (form)
- repetitive form mirrors the never ending nature of war
- mirrors the ongoing boredom and misery of the solidiers

ABBAC rhyme scheme which reflects the monotomy (sameness) of war

Question 4

Perspective

Answer 4

first person narrative + possesive pronouns e.g “we” and “our” - hints at the collective suffering of the soldiers. Also encourages the readers the share their pain and empathise with them