Exposure

Question 1

Poem’s form

Answer 1

The poem’s written in the present tense using the first person plural. This collective voice shows how the experience was shared by soldiers across the war. Each stanza has a regular rhyme scheme ABBAC, refelcting the monotonous nature of the men’s experience, but the rhymes are often half-rhymes. The rhyme scheme ofers no comfort or satisfaction - the rhymes asre jagged like the reality of the men’s experious and reflect their confusion and fading energy. Each stanza ends with a half line, leaving a gap which mirrors the lack of activity or hope for the men.

Question 2

Poem’s structure

Answer 2

The poem has 8 stanzas, but there’s no real progression - the last stanza ends with the same words as the first one, reflecting the monotony of life in the trenches and the absence of change.

Question 3

Poem’s themes

Answer 3

• Power of nature
• Effects of conflict
• Reality of conflict
• Loss and absence