Exposure by Wilfred Owen

Question 1

Theme

Answer 1

Conflict, suffering, Nature, Reality of war, patriotism

Question 2

Tones

Answer 2

Tragic,Haunting, Dreamy

Question 3

Content, Meaning and Purpose

Answer 3

• Speaker describes war as a battle against the weather and condition
• Imagery of cold and warm reflect the delusional mind of a man dying from hypothermia
• Owen wanted to draw attention to the suffering,monotony and futility of war

Question 4

Context

Answer 4

• Written in 1917 before Owen went to win the Military Cross of Bravery, and was then killed in battle in 1918: the poem has authenticity as it is written by an actual soldier
• Of his work, Own said “My theme is war and the pity of war”.
• Despite highlighting the tragedy of war and mistakes of senior commanders, he had a deep sense of duty: “not loath, we lie out here” shows he was not bitter about his suffering

Question 5

Language

Answer 5

• “Our brains ache” physical (cold) suffering and mental (PTSD or shell shock) suffering.
• Semantic field of weather: weather is the enemy.
• “the merciless iced east winds that knive us…” - personification (cruel and murderous wind); sibliance (cutting/slicing sound of the wind); ellipsis (never-ending)
• Repetition of pronouns ‘we’ and ‘our’ - coneys togetherness and collective suffering of soldiers.
• “mad gusts tugging on the wire”- personification

Question 6

Form and Strucutre

Answer 6

• Contrast of cold>warm>cold imagery conveys Suffering>Delusions>Death of thew hypothermic soldier.
• Repetition of “but nothing happened” creates circular structure implying never ending suffering
• Rhyme scheme ABBA and hexameter gives the poem structure and emphasises the monotony
• Pararhymes (half rhymes) (“nervous/knife us”) only barely hold the poem together, like the men