Exposure

Question 1

What is the POV of the poem Exposure?

Answer 1

It’s from the POV of a WW1 soldier living through misery, boredom and icy weather conditions during a night in the trenches

Question 2

What is the weather presented as in Exposure?

Answer 2

The real enemy to the soldiers

Question 3

Who is Wilfred Owen?

Answer 3

One of the most well-known WW1 poets who was famously anti-war

Question 4

How are Wilfred Owen’s poems realistic?

Answer 4

He fought in the war twice and describes the unheroic portrayal of fighting

Question 5

What is the reason behind ‘Exposure’’s title?

Answer 5

It could refer to the soldiers being ‘expos(ed)’ to the weather or that Owen is ‘expos(ing)’ the harsh, undignified aspects of conflict that are never portrayed in propaganda or by poems glorifying war

Question 6

What is Exposure about?

Answer 6

It portrays a soldier freezing in the trenches as he waits for an attack

Question 7

What does Exposure reveal about war?

Answer 7

The brutality and the agony of waiting through the pain inflicted by the elements in war that is less publicised

Question 8

What are the key ideas in Exposure?

Answer 8

Misery in war, loss of humanity, the pointlessness of war, weather and boredom and the lasting effects of war

Question 9

How is the key idea of misery in war presented in the poem Exposure?

Answer 9

Owen focuses on the aspects of war that are not glamorous. This poem reveals the horrific day-to-day misery experienced by the soldiers

Question 10

How is the key idea of the loss of humanity presented in the poem Exposure?

Answer 10

The men lose their humanity, suggested in the phrases “Slowly, our ghosts drag home” and “we cringe in holes”. This is the antithesis to the ideas of heroism seen before the war by the soldiers

Question 11

How is the key idea of the pointlessness of war presented in the poem Exposure?

Answer 11

The speaker in the poem seems to have lost sight of what he is fighting for.

Question 12

How is the key idea of weather and boredom presented in the poem Exposure?

Answer 12

It is presented as the real enemy to the soldiers, being anxious and afraid with each new day bringing no hope but more misery and despair

Question 13

How is the key idea of the lasting effects of war presented in the poem Exposure?

Answer 13

The speaker hints about war changing soldiers irreversibly, as they no longer fit when they return home, showing how the negative consequences of war are lasting

Question 14

How is the weather presented as menacing and deadly in the poem Exposure?

Answer 14

It is personified and characterised as the real enemy

Question 15

In, Exposure

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

What is used to highlight the intensity of the pain and the brutality of the weather?

Answer 15

Sibilance

Question 16

In Exposure,

“Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow”

How is nature presented here?

Answer 16

More damaging and deadly than the bullets in war

Question 17

In Exposure,

“Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces”

What is the repetition of the ‘f’ sound called and what does it do?

Answer 17

It is called consonance (the repetition of consonant sounds) and reflects the ferocity of the weather

Question 18

In Exposure,

“Dawn amassing in the East her melancholy army / Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey”

How is contradiction used here?

Answer 18

Because “dawn” is usually associated with ideas of light and hope but instead is associated with hostility and bringing more suffering

Question 19

In Exposure,

“Dawn amassing in the East her melancholy army / Attacks once more in ranks in shivering ranks of grey”

How is colour imagery used here?

Answer 19

The imagery of “grey” conveys ideas of despair and boredom

Question 20

In Exposure, Owen uses bleak imagery to highlight the misery of the soldiers in war. Name quotes where he does this.

Answer 20

“The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow” and “War lasts, rain soaks and clouds sag stormy”

Question 21

In Exposure,

“What are we doing here?”
“Is it that we are dying?”

How does Owen use rhetorical questions to emphasise the pointlessness of war?

Answer 21

It makes the reader question why we allow soldiers to be exposed to such suffering

Question 22

In Exposure, “but nothing happens” is repeated. How does this hint at the pointlessness of war?

Answer 22

It gives the readers a sense of boredom caused by waiting for something to happen, much like the soldiers

Question 23

In Exposure,

“Slowly, our ghosts drag home”

What does this metaphor suggest about the soldiers?

Answer 23

That war has sucked all the life out of them and reminds the readers that they are on the brink of death

Question 24

In Exposure,

“All their eyes are ice”

What does this metaphor imply about the soldiers?

Answer 24

That they have lost their humanity and are close to the breaking point due to the extreme effects of the weather

Question 25

What narrative is Exposure written in?

Answer 25

First person

Question 26

Exposure uses collective possessive pronouns such as “we”, “us” and “our”. What does this hint at?

Answer 26

The collective suffering of the soldiers in WW1 and encourages the reader to share in their pain

Question 27

How many lines are in each stanza of Exposure. What does this form mirror?

Answer 27

5. This mirrors the repetitive and never-ending nature of war

Question 28

What sort of rhyme scheme does Exposure have? What does this reflect?

Answer 28

It has the ABBAC rhyme scheme repetitively, reflecting the monotony (sameness) of war

Question 29

Why does the last line of “but nothing happens” at the end of each stanza create an unsettling feel?

Answer 29

Possibly to mirror how destabilised and on edge the soldiers feels waiting for the enemy to attack

Question 30

In Exposure,

“Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow”

What is this like unsettling?

Answer 30

It highlights the horror of being exposed to the elements and how close to death the soldiers are

Question 31

In what poems can you compare the power of nature in Exposure to?

Answer 31

Storm on the Island, The Prelude and Tissue

Question 32

In what poems can you compare the effects and reality of conflict in Exposure to?

Answer 32

War Photographer, Poppies, Kamikaze, Bayonet Charge and Remains