Poetry Anthology Flashcards
True or false, Wilfred Owen who wrote Exposure experienced war first hand
True
He was a very brave, well respected soldier who fought in WW1 and suffered PTSD
Context of Exposure poem
Written by Wilfred Owen (very brave and well respected soldier) who fought in WW1 and suffered from PTSD
He died before the end of the war but during his time he saw the full horror of conditions on the front line and rote many poems about this (they were published after war with help from another poet since he had died)
His poems tries to show the true conditions of war to people back at home
His poems were angry that soldiers faced a huge loss of life but very little gain and generals could sit in comfort whilst soldiers were in muddy dangerous trenches
True or false, in the poem Exposure Owen is displaying anger towards war conditions and what soldiers have to face (he wants to show the truth of war which he experienced first hand)
True
Structure of Exposure
Lots of ellipsis, caesura and repetition to representing all the waiting and boredom that him and other soldiers face
8 stanzas with consistent use of half line to end- reinforces how nothing is changing its just ongoing waiting
Para- rhyme (almost false rhyming) creates sense of unsettledness like soldiers felt
Lots of onomatopoeia and alliteration emphasising sound of weather/ atmosphere
Key themes in Exposure
Weather and conditions of living in trenches (not actual fighting)
Conflict between man and nature (weather is like an army attacking the soldiers and is one of the many things they’re exposed to)(nature more powerful than mankind despite all their military weapons)
Waiting and nothing ever happening
Key points to mention when analysing Exposure
Alliteration creates sense of atmosphere to weather drawing parallel links to violence of war and weather
Repetition and consistent structure creates static tone and sense of despair like soldiers felt
Poem looks at weather assaulting soldiers, not another army to highlight unknown horrors of war to people at home
Who wrote Exposure
Wilfred Owen
Key quotes from exposure
Anaphora of ‘but nothing happens’ at end of half of stanzas reflecting boredom, waiting, lack of change etc
‘Winds that knive us’ personifies weather making it threat to soldiers
‘Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence’- assonance and consonance of s and t sounds link weather with gunfire and therefore conflict and pain
