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Exposure - Coggle Diagram
Exposure
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Reality of Conflict
Bleak imagery is used to convey the men's pain- for example, the description of the frost as "puckering foreheads crisp" compels the reader to imagine their flesh freezing. Comparing the noise of the wind to the "twitching agonies of men" creates a vivid picture of wounded soldiers.
The reality of the war leaves no room for patriotism or heroism- the men "cringe in hole" like frightened animals. Rhetorical questions ("What are we doing here?") emphasise the pointlessness of their suffering
The hopeless tone of the poem suggests that the men believe they have little chance of surviving. They seem to have accepted that they will never see their families or homes again
Power of Nature
Nature is personified as the deadly enemy of the soldiers in the trenches- it has "merciless iced east winds that knife" them, and the snowflakes that "come feeling" for their faces with "fingering stealth". The men expect to die not from German gunfire, but from exposure to the elements
There's no progression in the poem, which mirrors the relentlessness of nature. The repeated stanza ending "But nothing happens", echoes the monotonous snow and rain that falls on the men
Loss and Absence
The men in the trenches have no hope of things improving. The dejected line, "We only know war lasts, rain soaks and clouds sag" emphasised that their lives are miserable and filled with suffering.
Even thinking about home doesn't provide any hope for the men- they understand that they are "dying" and know that at home "the doors are closed" to them.
About
Soldiers in the trenches of World War One are awake at night, afraid of an enemy attack. However, nature seems to be their main enemy[ it's freezing cold,windy and snowing. The men imagine returning home, but the doors are closed to them. They believe that sacrificing themselves in war is the only way of keeping their loved ones at home safe. They return to thinking about their deaths in the icy, bleak trenches.
Personification.
Nature is repeatedly personified, making it seem the real enemy in the way
Bleak language
The poem includes lots of bleak imagery to remind the reader of the men's pain, the awful weather and the lack of hope for the soldiers. Assonance, onomatopoeia and carefully chosen verbs add to the bleak mood and make the descriptions vivid and distressing.
Questions
The poem uses rhetorical questions to ask why the men are exposed to such dreadful conditions, and whether there;s any point to their suffering
Owen used his writing to inform people about the horrors of life on the front line. It contradicted the glory portrayed in the British media. Owen joined the army in 1915 but was hospitalised in May 1917 suffering from ‘shell shock’ (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). He returned to the war but was tragically killed days before it ended; he was just 26. This poem deals with the winter of 1917 which was particularly cold- soldiers suffered from hypothermia or frostbite, and many died in the freezing conditions.
The alliteration is used to create a sense of atmosphere to the weather and to draw parallels to the violence of war and weather.