Exposure Flashcards
“Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us …”
The soldiers endure both physical and mental strain, symbolised by the chilling winds, reflecting the harsh reality of war.
“Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,”
This line indicates the conflicting emotions the soldiers experience, who are constantly on edge and watchful as the use of sibilance suggests.
“Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire,”
Nature, represented by the wind, appears hostile, echoing the soldiers’ struggle against external forces beyond the enemy.
“The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow…”
The cyclical misery of war is portrayed through the daily rising of the sun, highlighting the endless suffering and futility of conflict.
“Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.
Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,”
Even amidst gunfire, nature’s elements, like snow, pose greater danger, reflecting the soldiers’ vulnerability to the environment.
“Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces-“
The snow symbolises an ominous threat, intensifying the soldiers’ fear and sense of impending doom, paralleling their inner struggle.
“Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires, glozed
With crusted dark-red jewels; …”
The soldiers, described as metaphorical “ghosts” to convey their exhaustion, find solace only in fleeting memories, highlighting their detachment from reality.
“Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;”
The soldiers lose faith in a hopeful future, resigned to their fate, as the warmth of life seems distant and unattainable amidst the cruelty of war.
“Tonight, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,”
The poem’s despair culminates as nature’s frost seals the soldiers’ fate, symbolising their entrapment and the inevitability of death.
“The burying-party, picks and shovels in their shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,”
Even in death, the soldiers face cold indifference, with metaphorically frozen eyes reflecting the numbing effect of war’s horrors, reinforcing its futility.
“But nothing happens.” (Repeated throughout)
The refrain underscores the poem’s central theme of futility, echoing the soldiers’ resigned acceptance of their grim reality and the unchanging nature of war.
