Exposure Flashcards
Quote linking to the weather being the enemy?
Merciless iced east winds that knive us
Who’s point of view is it written from?
A soldiers
Give an example of sibilance in the poem
sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.
How is punctuation used to set the pace?
The poem uses a large amount of ellipses, caesuras and repetition to create an on-going (monotonous) sense of
waiting and boredom.
Main theme?
Man vs nature
Author’s link to war?
Wilfred Owen was soldier in world war one, he wrote these poems in his letters home. Unfortunately he also died during the war.
What technique is used throughout the poem and give a quote using it?
Personification of the weather, for example “Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army” to present the weather (nature) as a powerful, and relentless threat.
What literary technique does Owen use to show unity between the soldiers?
First person plural is used (us, our) to show unity between the soldiers and likely reflects the relationship Owen had with his men.
What literary technique does Owen use to show unity between the soldiers?
First person plural is used (us, our) to show unity between the soldiers and likely reflects the relationship Owen had with his men as they all were going through the same trauma and facing the deadly weather together.
What is the effect of sibilance in this poem?
The sibilance either imitates the harsh whistling winds or the bullets tearing through the air which creates a scarily real image for the reader.
What does the repetition of “But nothing happens” do?
Symbolises the monotony of war, and the uncertainty of the men as they cannot know when to expect attacks from the weather/ the enemy.
How has Owen created the sense that death is all around?
The structure of the poem is laid of so that we are drawn the the word “dying”, as there are many references to death on the shortest, and last line of each stanza. For example “Is it that we are dying” and “We turn back to our dying”.
