Exposure - Wilfred Owen

Question 1

Title “Exposure” meaning

Answer 1

Suggests 2 things :

• The men in WW1 were exposed to the elements and many froze to death due to poor equipment and poor planning by the Army. (men weren’t able to be heroes)
• Owen was exposing the realities of trench warfare in the winter

Question 2

The _______ iced east ____ that ____ us…

Answer 2

• “the merciless iced east winds that knive us…”
  PERSONIFICATION, cruel and murderous wind
  SIBILANCE, cutting/ slicing sound of wind
  ELLIPSIS, never-ending

Question 3

________, we hear the ___ gusts _______ on the wire

Answer 3

• “Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire”
  PERSONIFICATION - the wind is attacking across no man’s land
• ‘mad’ : out of control and unpredictable, even the weather has been driven insane by the conditions
• ‘watching’ : passive verb, the men cannot fight the wind/enemy, their observation is futile

Question 4

Pale _____ with _______ stealth come ______ for our ____ -

Answer 4

• “Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces -“
  ALLITERATION / FRICATIVES - focuses the listener on the personified snow, the weather is seeking them out, the ultimate enemy.
• ‘Pale flakes’ : sounds ghost-like and haunting - links to death from the cold each night

Question 5

But ______ ______

Answer 5

• “But nothing happens”
  Repetition of most stanzas and last line. No change to the circumstances, the army do nothing to help.
  WW1 was a waiting game - very rare actual fighting and attacks meant many of Owen’s men died from the cold as opposed to for a cause.

Question 6

____ are we doing ____?

Answer 6

• “What are we doing here?”
  RHETORICAL at the end of 2nd stanza : the soldiers in WW1 were not informed WHY the war was prolonged for so many years. Ignorant to real reasons why they were at war
  PROPAGANDA - the signed up to fight and be heroes, not to sit and die from the cold