exposure Flashcards
‘our brains ache in the iced east winds that knife us’
medias res: ‘our brains ache’
↳ immediacy
focus on: ‘brains ache’
↳ their brains hurt from the violence they are constantly exposed to (mental deterioration)
↳ spiritual fatigue is so strong that it transcends to the physical state of the soldiers
assonance: ‘iced east’
↳ assonance elongates the words & shows the pointless longevity of the war
personification: ‘knive us’
↳ wind is like an inescapable enemy, men have the violence from the enemy AND nature to worry about
‘worried, we keep awake because the night is silent…’
oxymoronic idea:
↳ the soldiers are always anticipating something, so they can’t sleep even in perfect conditions as they need to stay alert
↳ war destroys reason & order
‘but nothing happens.’
-emphasises owen’s beliefs of futile war, lives are being taken for no reason
-soldiers are waiting for something - death? the end of war?
-end stopped line shoes finality
‘far off, like a dull rumour of some other war. what are we doing here?’
simile: ‘far off, like a dull rumour’
↳ the soldiers are now detached from the war & find it unbelievable that anything will happen
↳ they are so exhausted and cold that they have lost sight in what they are fighting for
rhetorical question: what are we…?’
↳ soldiers realisation that war is pointless, he is insignificant & is only a pawn in the chess game that is the war for power and control
↳ vulnerable & don’t understand what they are doing
‘poignant misery of dawn’
symbolism in dawn:
↳ dawn should be positive like renewal or a new day, however it’s poignant and creates a sad feeling, they are forced to wake up day after day for nothing
↳ they are desperate for a change in their situation, but nothing happens
‘sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence. less deathly than the air that shudders black with snow’
sibilance/onomatopoeia:
↳ mimics the sound of the bullets as they fly through the air
↳ continuous s sounds show how bullets never stop
personification:
↳ even nature itself is weakened by the snow, nature is overwhelmingly powerful
oxymoron: ‘black with snow’
↳ snow is usually white (symbol of purity) here its black (symbol of evil or death) , even things that are supposed to be seen as good are harming the soldiers, everything is the enemy
↳ weather is retaliating due to the fact that the violence of war and the brutality of man have destroyed the beautiful landscape this once was, before being turned into a battlefield, the snow & air have been polluted with the violence that the soldiers have inflicted
‘for love of God seems dying.’
religious reference:
↳ their love of God has disappeared & their faith is completely gone (assured by the end-stopped line), they believe that God no longer loves them, as he won’t save them from their misery
↳ they must die to show their love for God
‘pause over half-known faces. all their eyes are ice, but nothing happens’
adjective: ‘half-known’
↳ faces are so mutilated and disfigured that they can’t be recognised
↳ the soldiers don’t try to get to know one another as they know death is inevitable
↳ the people are unknown and get no recognition for their sacrifices
caesura:
↳ reflects the burying teams pause
metaphor: ‘all their eyes are ice’
↳ the dead soldier’s eyes are frozen due to the power of the weather
↳ the burying party are devoid of emotion as they are desensitised to murder
↳ regardless of how many people die, the war resumes
focus on: but nothing happens
↳ still awaiting a resolution
themes in exposure
power of nature, effects of conflict, reality of conflict, loss and absence, religion
structure
-eight stanzas, 5 lines
-no rhyme scheme
-last line of each stanza is the shortest for emphasis.
context
-anti war message
-written in WWI, owen joined army in 1915, he was hospitalised is 1917
-he was killed days before WW1 ended
-owen and his soldiers were forced to lie outside in the freezing cold for days
who wrote exposure?
wilfred owen
