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