Exposure Flashcards
“Our brains ache,”
Shared painful experience
“merciless iced east winds that knive us,”
Nature is personify and seems to be attacking them
Ellipses…
Hint that they’re waiting for something to happen and it never does
“Confuse,” “Worried,” “Curious,” “Nervous,”
Overwhelming amount of different emotions
“ like twitching agonies of men among its brambles,”
The brambles of the barbed wire remind us of the pain caused by nature
“But nothing happens,”
Short simple half line emphasises their boredom and tension
“ flickering gunnery rumbles,”
Assonance and onomatopoeia create a vivid aural description
“ like a dull, rumour of some other war,”
Absence of war suggests nature is the main enemy
“What are we doing here?”
Rhetorical question emphasises the futility
“ the poignant misery of dawn begins to grow,”
Shows how pointless and depressing war is
“ dawn massing in the east her melancholy army,”
Dawn is personified using the language of battle normally Dawn brings hope but not here.
“Ranks of shivering ranks,”
The description of Dawn approach where is the soldiers in the trenches. Ranks gives connotations of war
“ sudden successive flights of bullet streak the silence,”
Sibilance mimics the whistling sound of bullets flying and with this being the only line involving war this emphasises the absence of warfare. Concrete imagery.
“Flowing flakes that flock,”
Alliteration emphasises the relentlessness of the snow
“Black with snow,”
Snow is normally white(symbolising purity) but here it’s black (symbolising evil or death)
“ Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces,”
The snowflakes are personified their maliciously seeking the men’s faces
“ slowly our ghosts drag Home,”
“oh” sounds make the journey sound painful and slow
“ for love of God seems dying,”
Could mean that their love of God is disappearing all that they feel God’s love for them is dying
“ shrivelling many hands puckering forehead crisp,”
Vivid image of what exposure to the cold does to their bodies
“All their eyes are ice,”
Metaphor refers to the eyes of the living dead man it’s a vivid description of how they’ve been overpowered by nature hence that the living men are no longer able to feel any emotion
Each stanza has the same regular rhyme scheme
Reflects the monotonous nature of the men’s experience
The rhymes are often half rhymes
Offers no comfort or satisfaction as the rhymes are jagged like the reality of the men’s experience and reflect their confusion and fading energy
Each stanza ends with a half line
Mirrors the lack of activity or hope of the men
Nature is constantly personified
Makes nature seem the real enemy of war
Bleak and negative language linking to suffering
Exposes the helplessness and suffering of the soldiers.
“Wearied,” “Ache”
Highlights for fatigue and tension of soldiers despite lack of achievement
“What are we doing here?”
Rhetorical questions the soldiers questioned the purpose of the suffering
Personifies nature
To be relentless, cruel insistent enemy. Desperate to reach the soldiers. Images relating to inevitability of death or emotional death. Give sense of hopelessness.
“But nothing happens,”
The repetition showed futile and nothing gained despite suffering and loss of the soldiers. Compounded by it being the final line, nothing will ever gained
