Context –
Exposure
was written by Wilfred Owen in 1917.
Line-by-Line Analysis
-
Remember that this is an extract from the poem, not the whole poem.
Wilfred Owen – Wilfred Edward Salter Owen
(1893-1918) was a British poet and soldier. He was
one of the predominant World War I poets,
detailing the horrors of trench warfare in a similar
style to his mentor: Sigfried Sassoon. His poetry brought a
sense of realism to public perceptions of war, in stark contrast
to the earlier works of poets such as Rupert Brooke at the
time. Owen was killed one week before the end of the war.
World War I – World War I, also known as the
‘Great War’, was a global war originating in
Europe that took place from July 1914 to
November 1918. It involved all of the world’s
major powers, opposing the Allies (including Russia, France,
UK, and USA) against the Alliance (Germany, Austro-
Hungary, the Ottoman Empire) Over 9 millions armed forces
and 7 million civilians were killed in the war.
STANZA
LINE
POEM
ANALYSIS
1
1
2
3
4
5
Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us . . .
Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent . . .
Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient . . .
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
But nothing happens.
The reader is delivered to the bleak French
landscape, and the use of personification
(winds…knive’) brings the conditions to life.
This is a hostile environment; even nature is
against them. Alliteration w/s sounds mimic
whispers. ‘We’ is used to demonstrate that
the narrator is among the soldiers. The
soldiers fear the silence.
2
6
7
8
9
10
Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire,
Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,
Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.
What are we doing here?
Pathetic fallacy is used to attribute anger to
the wind – again making the place seem
inhospitable. The simile used over the top
two lines creates connotations of pain. Even
though the action of the war is in the
distance, it is still at the forefront of their
minds. The soldiers question what they are
doing– the reason for fighting is long lost.
Trench Warfare – The use of trench warfare
significantly influenced the high death toll.
Attacks involved going across No Man’s Land
(in the middle) where attackers were open to machine gun
fire, mines, and shells. Even if successful, casualties were huge.
Life in the trenches were awful, with diseases like trench foot
rife. Men would often spend weeks at a time on the front line,
where they would need to sleep, eat, and defecate in close
proximity in the trenches.
Exposure to the Weather – The majority of
the fighting took place in Europe, where the
soldiers faced extremities in temperature and
weather over the years. Rain would quickly accumulate in
the trenches (sometimes to waist height) whilst in the winter
months soldiers would often be battered by snow, hail, and
sub-zero temperatures. The winter of 1916-17 was so cold that
many lost fingers and toes to frostbite. Trenches offered little
to no protection. Even clothes and blankets froze solid.
3
11
12
13
14
15
The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow . . .
We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.
Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army
Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey,
But nothing happens.
Dawn is typically associated with freshness,
happiness, but here it brings ‘poignant
misery:’ they are trapped in an endless cycle
of war. Dawn itself is then personified as an
enemy, and a metaphor is used to describe
an attack by a ‘melancholy army.’ The
repeated last line shows the anxiety of
waiting for death – ‘nothing happens.’
Language/Structural Devices
4
16
17
18
19
20
Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.
Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,
With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause, and renew,
We watch them wandering up and down the wind's
nonchalance,
But nothing happens.
Sibilance (repeating ‘s’ sound) is used at the
beginning of the stanza to add emphasis to
the sounds being described. More
personification is used – even the snowflakes
seem to be conscious in deciding who to
attack/ where they will fall. The wind is
personified in its apathy in the face of the
untold suffering and hardship.
Personification/Pathetic Fallacy – Owen persistently
personifies the weather to create the impression that the
weather is as much of danger to the soldiers as the enemy
itself. The weather is constantly referred to as an enemy, for
example through suggesting it ‘knives’ the men, gathers a
‘melancholy army’ against them, and uses ‘stealth’ to attack
them. The use of pathetic fallacy (e.g. the ‘mad gusts’) even
add emotions and malice to the forces of nature.
Sibilance/Alliteration/Assonance – These language
techniques are used to echo/mimic the sounds (or in some
cases silence) that the men are exposed to. For example,
repetitive use of the ‘w’ and ‘s’ sounds are representative of
the whistling of the wind around them, and even the muffled
whispering of the men. Furthermore, awkward ‘o’ sounds
emphasise words, and represents the difficulty the men have
in taking their minds off the cold misery that they face.
5
21
22
23
24
25
Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces—
We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare, snow-dazed,
Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse, sun-dozed,
Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses.
—Is it that we are dying?
The icy flakes are compared to assassins that
stalk out the soldiers. Varied verb in
‘cringed’ creates a vivid image of the soldiers
weakly cowering from the weather. The
juxtaposition of the ‘blossoms’ and ‘sun-
dozed’ dream enhances the extremity of the
misery of the lines before The last line
answers the question at the end of stanza 2.
Quote: “
Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that
knive us
”
Quote: “
Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk
fires, glozed”
Similes/Metaphors – Similes and metaphors are used to
figuratively describe the physical and psychological pain that
the men are enduring. For example, the dawn of a new day
is compared to a ‘melancholy army’ being amassed – a new
day signals a repeat of the cycle of misery and despair.
Varied Verbs – Owen uses some interesting and original
verbs to present the discomfort of movement and actions by
the exposed soldiers. For example, the frost makes their hands
‘shrivel’ and their foreheads ‘pucker’, whilst they are ‘shaking.’
These are young men in their prime and yet the description of
their actions makes them resemble the old and infirm.
6
26
27
28
29
30
Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires, glozed
With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there;
For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;
Shutters and doors, all closed: on us the doors are closed,—
We turn back to our dying.
Assonance of the awkward ‘o’ sound
opening the stanza is representative of the
effort that it takes to think of anywhere but
their ghastly present environment. Use of
the word ‘ghost’ creates the sense that these
men are already dead – effective when
considering later in the stanza: the men
have been forgotten already.
Quote:
"Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army.”
Quote: “
We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and
stare, snow-dazed”
7
31
32
33
34
35
Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;
Now ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit.
For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid;
Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born,
For love of God seems dying.
The speaker questions the existence of
warming stimuli, as it has been so long since
they have experienced such comforts. The
spring that will follow the current winter
makes them feel afraid, as they fear that
they will not be alive to see it. Due to the
agony of their predicament, God’s love of
the men is itself questioned.
Form/Structure – The poem is conventional in the sense
that each stanza is five lines long, with eight stanzas in total.
Half-rhyme is used throughout to create a A-B-B-A-C rhyme
scheme. The fifth line adds a little more to what would
normally be expected – this could be seen as representative
of the war dragging on for longer than anyone thought.
Versification – Each of the eight stanzas ends with a short
half line. At the end of the first, third, fourth, and eighth lines
the refrain ‘but nothing happens’ is added. This hammers
home the message that despite all of the pain and suffering
being described, little changes. The last lines, when read alone
one after the other, tell their own melancholy story.
8
36
37
38
39
40
Tonight, this frost will fasten on this mud and us,
Shrivelling many hands, and puckering foreheads crisp.
The burying-party, picks and shovels in shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,
But nothing happens.
The last stanza is perhaps the most
haunting. The effects of frost are described
using varied verbs and adjectives (shriveling,
crisp). The soldiers (half frozen themselves)
attempt to bury those killed from exposure.
Metaphor – eyes are physically frozen/
numb to the horror of what they are doing.
Last line shows nothing is being achieved.
Quote: “
Shrivelling many hands, and puckering foreheads
crisp/The burying-party, picks and shovels in shaking grasp.”
Quote:
“What are we doing here? Is it that we are dying?”
Themes – A theme is an idea or message that runs throughout a text.
Poems for Comparison
Thoughts of the Poet
Suffering – In order to get across his message across, it was essential that Owen presented the barbaric, appalling
nature of war in a realistic manner and tone. In this poem, Owen portrays the quieter moments of war, the painful
periods in between the battle and bloodshed. Here, physical pain and psychological trauma can both be taken in
more fully, and are described vividly and frankly.
Remains
Exposure
can be contrasted with this poem
in relation to the theme of Suffering and
the Horrors of War.
Dear Mother, Immediately after I sent my last letter, more than a fortn ight ago, we were
rushed up into the Line. Our A Company led the Attack, and of
course lost a certain number of men. I had some extraordinary
escapes from shells & bullets…I think the worst incident was o ne wet
night when we lay up against a railwav embankment. A big shell
lit on the top of the bank, just 2 yards from my head. Before I
awoke, I was blown in the air right away from the bank! My
brother officer of B Coy., 2/Lt. Gaukroger lay opposite in a s imilar
hole. But he was covered with earth, and no relief will ever relieve
him, nor will his Rest be a 9 days' Rest. I think that the terribly long
time we stayed unrelieved was unavoidable; yet it makes us feel b itterly towards those in
England who might relieve us, and will not. WEO
The Futility of War – In contrast to many poems at the time that glorified war and fighting for one’s country,
Owen’s poems typically depict war in a harsh light, in order to demonstrate how horrific and futile it is. ‘Exposure’, in
this sense, is no different. His bleak and shockingly realistic portrayal of the soldier’s experiences (in this case caused
by both the opposition and the forces of nature) forms a stark contrast to general public opinions at the time.
Charge of the
Light Brigade
Exposure
can be compared with this poem
in relation to the theme of suffering and
can be contrasted with this poem in their
approach to the futility of war.
