Exposure by Owen

Question 1

Who wrote this poem?

Answer 1

Owen

Question 2

What is this poem about?

Answer 2

-soldiers in the trenches of WW1
are awake at night fearing enemy attack
-nature turns out to be the main enemy as the conditions are treacherous
-soldiers believe that sacrificing themselves in the war is the only way of keeping their loved ones at home safe
-they return thinking about their deaths in the icy bleak trenches

Question 3

What are the main themes in this poem?

Answer 3

Reality of war, Effects of war, power of nature ,absence of hope

Question 4

What quote is personification?

Answer 4

‘The merciless iced winds that knive us’

-nature is the true enemy that is callous and heartless
-‘knive’ -cruel and torturous and ruthless nature of the weather
-‘iced’-physically cold conditions
-‘merciless’ foreshadows the relentless nature of the situation that will end in inevitable death

Question 5

What quotes is the biblical reference to Mathew 24:6 ?

Answer 5

‘flickering gunnery rumbles’ ‘like a dull rumour of some other war’
-Mathew 24:6-jesus fortells the end of the world ‘you will hear of wars and rumours of wars’
Owen could be alluding to how, for the soldiers, the horrible conditions of the war are so nightmarish that it alludes to the end of the world This also confirms the notion that the soldiers have lost hope and are awaiting and expecting death.

Question 6

What is the alliteration quote in this poem?

Answer 6

‘Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence - Sibilance - Owen employs the repeated -s sound to mimic the whistling of the bullets being shot at the soldiers. The constant repetition of this sounds imitates how the soldiers are constantly surrounded by incessant firing reinforcing their helpless situation.

Question 7

What is this poem written in?

Answer 7

present tense with collective pronouns
-‘our’, ‘we’,’us’
experience is shared by soldiers across the war

-Refrain
-‘but nothing happens’
lack of progression as the dire situation does not improve
hey are stuck in the same positions mirroring the monotony of life as a soldier in war.

Question 8

Poems to compare Exposure to?

Answer 8

Charge of the Light Brigade, ‘Bayonet Charge’ (War), Remains (impact on soldiers), Poppies (impact of war on people), Prelude (power of nature), Kamikaze (power of nature and impact of war)

Question 9

What is the context for this poem?

Answer 9

-ww1 began in 1914-expected to end quickly but became a long stalemate in trenches
-winter 1917-freezing, muddy and deadly;soldiers suffered more from weather than fighting
-Owen saw men get trench foot, frostbite and hypothermia
-he wrote Exposure to show how nature and waiting tortured soldiers more than enemy attacks