Exposure Flashcards
How many stanzas are in Exposure?
Eight
What does repeating the phrase ‘But nothing happens’ emphasise?
The agony of waiting and that war is not all about action
What are the three main themes in Exposure?
War, Weather and Despair
What are the different interpretations of the line ‘Our brains ache’?
The soldiers are in physical pain
The soldiers are developing psychological problems
What are the different interpretations of the line ‘We cringe in holes’?
The poet makes us think the soldiers are like frightened animals
The poet reminds the reader that the soldiers are just ordinary men
What are the different interpretations of the line ‘…on us the doors are closed’?
The soldiers are thinking back to happier times
The soldiers are thinking ahead to what lies in store for them
What rhyming pattern to the stanzas follow?
ABBAC
What does Owen used to unsettle the reader and defy the expected outcome?
Half rhyme.
What is the effect of assonance in Exposure? (Give examples)
Unsettling
‘knive us’ ‘nervous’ ‘silent’ ‘salient’
What does the use of sibilance do in the fourth stanza? (give examples)
Reminds us the of the whizzing sound of the bullets.
The sibilance gradually fades away, like the hail of bullets would do.
‘Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.’
What effect does assonance have in the third stanza? (give examples)
The long ‘o’ sounds emphasises the tedious wait for something to occur.
‘know’ ‘grow’ ‘soak’
What are the two different aspects of the poem?
The war itself and the conditions they are trying to survive in
How does Owen draw the reader in?
Use of emotive language
What poetic technique can you identify: ‘flickering gunnery rumbles’
onomatopoeia
What is the structure of this poem?
Blank verse
The tone of the poem is?
Despair
‘Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow’ uses the technique…
Personification
The phrase ‘but nothing happens’ indicates
No one will come to help them
What themes are evident throughout the poem?
Effects of conflict
Power of nature
Reality of conflict
What effect do the regular stanzas and rhyme have?
reflects the monotony involved and that nothing changes
Half rhyme is used in places; what effect does it have on the reader?
It’s unsettling, which reflects difficulties being faced
Which technique: ‘mad gusts tugging’ and ‘Pale flakes…feeling for our faces’?
Personification
What is the effect of the personification?
Makes the weather seem purposeful, depicting it as the enemy
What is the effect of the sibilance used here: ‘silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous’?
It conveys hushed tones, depicting the soldiers’ worry
Wilfred Owen wrote ‘Exposure’ during which war?
WW1
In what year was Wilfred Owen hospitalised?
1917
In Exposure, the para-rhyme shows…
Owen was showing that war us unnatural and chaotic
Complete the line: Slowly, our ___________ drag home
Ghosts
Complete the line: Dawn massing in the east her…
melancholy army
Complete the line: Sudden successive flights of bullets…
streak the silence
Complete the line: We _______________ in holes
cringe
What is the opening line of Exposure?
Our brains ache
Exposure focuses on…
trench foot
frostbite
hypothermia
What is presented as the real enemy to the soldiers in Wilfred Owen’s Exposure?
The Weather
Boredom
Wilfred Owen was…
three points
…famously anti-war
…one of the most well known WW1 poets
…a solider in the war twice
What are key ideas in Exposure?
Lasting effects of war Boredom in war Weather as enemy Pointlessness of war Loss of humanity
Summarise the poem:
The poem is written from the 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.
What could the title suggest?
The title could refer to weather that the soldiers are ‘expos[ed]’.
However, Owen is also “expos[ing]” the harsh, undignified aspects of conflict that are never portrayed in propaganda or poems glorifying war.
Explain the idea of loss of humanity in the poem:
There is a sense that the men lose their humanity and dignity.
This depiction is the antithesis (contrast) to images of heroism soldiers would have seen before war.
Explain the idea of lasting effects of war in the poem:
The speaker hints at the fact that war changes the soldiers irreversibly as they no longer fit in when they return home.
The negative consequences of war are lasting.
Explain the idea of pointlessness of war in the poem:
The speaker in the poem seems to have lost sight of what he is fighting for
Explain the idea of misery in war in the poem:
Unlike the propaganda materials that focused on the glory of war, this poem reveals the horrific day-to day misery experienced by those who went to war.
What quotations suggest the idea that there is a loss of humanity in war?
“Slowly, our ghosts drag home”
“we cringe in holes”
What quotation in the poem uses sibilance?
“Our brains ache in the merciless ice east winds that knife us”
What the sibilance in the quotation “Our brains ache in the merciless ice east winds that knife us” highlight?
The intensity of the pain and the brutality of the weather
Finish the quotation:
“Less deadly than the air…
…that shudders black with snow”
What does the quotation “Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow” suggest?
That nature is more damaging and deadly than bullets
What quotation uses assonance?
“Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces”
What does the assonance in the quotation “Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces” reflect?
It reflects the ferocity of the weather
What is personified in these lines?
“Dawn amassing in the East her melancholy army / Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey.”
Dawn
What is the contradiction used the personification of dawn?
Dawn, usually associated with ideas of light and hope, is here hostile and brings even more suffering.
What techniques are used in the lines personifying Dawn?
Contradiction
Colour Imagery
Military Vocabulary
What quotations use imagery to highlight the misery of the soldiers in war?
“War lasts, rain soaks and clouds sag stormy”
“The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow”
What does the use of Rhetorical Questions in the poem suggest?
The pointlessness of war
Give examples of rhetorical questions in the poem:
“What are we doing here?”
“Is it that we are dying?”
What line is repeated throughout the poem?
“but nothing happens”
What sense does the repetition of “but nothing happens” give the reader?
A sense of boredom caused by waiting
What does the line “but nothing happens” hint at?
The pointlessness of war
What metaphor reminds us that the soldiers are on the brink of death?
“Slowly, our ghosts drag home”
What metaphor implies that the soldiers have lost their humanity and are close to breaking point?
“All their eyes are ice”
Fill in the gaps:
“War lasts, rain (1) and (2) sag stormy”
(1) soaks
(2) clouds
What does the quotation “Slowly, our ghosts drag home” suggest?
War has sucked all the life out of the soldiers
What is the poem written in?
First person
What are examples of possessive pronouns used in the poem?
“we” “us” “our”
What does the use of possessive pronouns hint at?
The collective suffering of the soldiers in WW1.
It also encourages the reader to share in their pain
What is the purpose of the repetition of the ABBAC rhyme scheme?
To reflect how nothing changes
What is the purpose of the final line in each stanza?
To create an unsettling feel.
Mirrors how destabilised and on edge the soldiers feel
What poems could you compare the theme of power of nature vs power of man in Exposure with?
Storm on the Island
The Prelude
Tissue
What poems could you compare the effects/reality of conflict in Exposure with?
War Photographer Poppies Kamikaze Bayonet Charge Remains
