Exposure Flashcards
STRUCTURE
In exposure, there is a hopelessness and anticlimactic tone, mirroring the monotony of war.
The anaphora “but nothing happens” reinstates the monotony and nihilistic approach the soldiers have adopted to life the soldiers have adopted as there is no escape of doom all around.
However, Owen’s use of slight rhyme creates a heightened sense of unease and an eerie atmosphere, highlight the vast discomfort nature causes.
“Merciless iced east winds”
“merciless” - connotes to the natural world as being vindictive and ruthless allowing no time for pause or respite.
Owens may have personified the nature in this manner to subvert the reader’s expectation of the nature world, highlighting the corrupt nature of war.
Semantic field of coldness created through: “iced” and “snow” further personifies nature as being callous and unfeeling. This allows the readers to understand that the soldiers are as the hands of an all engulfing entity.
CONTEXT
Wilfred Owen wrote this poem in the coldest winter ever recorded and many died in the trenches purely due to the weather, highlighting the futility of war. Hence Owen uses nature to highlight the expectations vs reality of war and to critique the pro-war propaganda which plagued Britain as he himself saw first hand, the effects of war, suffering, shell shock and PTSD.
The title “Exposure”
This may reference how the soldiers were exposed to the natural world and were vulnerable.
Alternatively, it could be Owen’s way of showing how he is trying ton expose the truth about the war and dispel jingoistic (extremely patriotic) beliefs.
Semantic Field of War
Military imagery is used of “Dawn and her melancholy army” which attacks in “ranks upon ranks of shivering grey”.
Noun “dawn” usually connotes to hope whereas in this context it is inflicting harm. The dichotomy of ideas may have been used to further highlight the corrupting power of nature and how the soldiers cannot seek solace in it.
Owen may have used these juxtaposing ideas of how mother nature should be kind and loving instead of a militant army to exemplify how Owen views war as unnatural and to almost ironically convey how nature is more of an enemy than the opposing force.
This creates a great sense of sympathy amongst the readers and allows them to understand the futility of war and how vulnerable the soldiers are due to nature.
Military imagery is compounded through how the weather “knifes” them. The verb “knifes” is a visceral image and shows the intimate and deliberate nature of these belligerent attacks.
Ending tone of nonchalance
“For love of God seems dying” - soldiers feel so hopeless that life begins to lose meaning, becoming monistic wondering if God is punishing them and slowly losing their faith.
