exposure Flashcards
summary
The poem is written from a point of view of a WW1 soldier describing living through the misery, boredom and icy weather conditions during a night in the trenches. The weather is presented as the real enemy of the soldiers. The title could refer to the weather that the soldiers are exposed to, alternatively Owen is exposing the harassing undignified aspects of conflict that are never portrayed in propaganda or poems glorifying war.
context - Owen
-he was a soldier killed in battle one week before the armistice
-Owen wrote his poetry to express he horror of war as opposed to internalising it
structure - rhythm
made up five line stanzas which mirror the repetitive and never ending nature of war and the ongoing boredom and misery of the soldiers
structure - first person narrative
the poem is written in the first person, it has many collective possessive pronouns, this hints at the collective suffering of the soldiers in ww1.
rhyme scheme
ABBAC rhyme scheme is repeated which reflects the monotony of war. the last line of each stanza creates an unsettling feel to mirror how established and on edge the soldiers feel waiting for the enemy to attack
key concept - misery in war
as with other poems by Owen, the poem focuses on aspects of war that are not glamorous.
unlike the propaganda materials that focused on glory the poem reveals the horrific day-to-day misery experienced by those who went to war
key concept - loss of humanity
-there is a sense that the men lose their humanity and dignity, this depiction is the antithesis to the images of heroism soldiers would have seen before enlisting
key concept - pointlessness of war
-emphasised throughout, the speaker in the poem seems to have lost sight of what he is fighting for
key concept - weather and boredom
-presented as the real enemy of the soldiers
-the soldiers are anxious and afraid and each new day brings no hope but more misery and despair
key concept - lasting effects of war
-the speaker hints at the fact that war changes the soldiers irreversibly as they no longer fit in when they return home
comparison - power of nature
storm on the island
ozymandias
the prelude
tissue
comparison - effects/reality of conflict
war photographer
poppies
kamikaze
bayonet charge
remains
‘our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knife us’
sibilance - highlights the intensity of the pain and the brutality of weather
personification - the weather is personified to make it sound menacing and deadly, characterises the weather as the real enemy of the soldiers
‘pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces’
consonance (repetition of consonant sounds)
-reflects on the ferocity of the weather
‘…but nothing hapens’
repetition
gives a sense of the boredom caused by waiting and hints at the pointlessness of war
‘all their eyes are ice’
metaphor - describes the extreme effects of the weather. implies that soldiers have lost their humanity
‘slowly our ghosts drag home’
metaphor
suggests that all the life has been sucked out of the soldiers and remains readers they are on the brink of death
‘dawn massing in the east, her melancholy army / attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey’
-contradiction
dawn is usually associated with ideas of light and hope but here it is hostile and brings more suffering
-colour imagery
‘grey’ conveys ideas of despair and boredom
-military vocabulary
‘ranks’ is a military term and is repeated, reminding the reader that the weather is the soldiers enemy
