Exposure Flashcards
Analyse this key quote
’Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us…’
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The personification of the ‘winds that knive us’ mimics the idiomatic phrase of being ‘stabbed in the back’ this represents the feelings of betrayal that the soldiers are experiencing.
Analyse this key quote
’But nothing happens.’
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As it is written at the bottom of the first stanza, and the last, Owen creates a circular structure to suggest that war is never ending.
The repetition of ‘But nothing happens.’ underscores the poem’s central theme of futility, emphasising the soldiers resigned acceptance of their harrowing reality and the unchanging nature of war.
Analyse this key quote
’Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army’
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Personification of the clouds creates an image of the weather arming itself. The word ‘massing’ suggests that’s there is much more danger coming from the weather than German soldiers in the trenches.
The pathetic fallacy of the ‘melancholy’ weather reflects the miserable emotions of the soldiers.
What does the structure of ‘Exposure’ suggest?
Owen draws out the syllables in ‘Exposure’ in order to mimic the length of time that these men are being exposed to these terrible conditions.
