Exposure

First hand experience of warfare - Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) had joined the army in 1915 but was hospitalised in May 1917 suffering from ‘shell shock’ (today known as PTSD – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). In hospital Owen met the already established war poet Siegfried Sassoon who, recognising the younger man’s talent, encouraged him to continue writing. 

Corrective poem - Corrects the romantisised vision of warfare and shows it's true horror - Glorified perception of war begins to erode away

War of attrition - Thousands of lives lost for only a few cm of land. It is the most mentally damaging of all wars, the inaction and waiting shreds soldiers nerves

War: Owen once declared of all his writing that: ‘My theme is war and the pity of war’. In this poem he looks at a particular aspect of how death claimed the lives of so many soldiers. 'We only know war lasts' The soldiers seem to have little idea of where they are, what they are fighting for and for how long it will be. There is only one certainty and it is that war is something that persists.

Weather: the freezing conditions are seen as being dangerous as the enemy. The soldiers are fighting two battles at once and at one point, bullets are seen as less deadly than the cold. 'Merciless iced east winds that knife us' The weather is likened to an army that gathers and assaults the soldiers in the trenches. The opposition is not vindicated as the enemy, the weather is.

Despair: one of the casualties of war is the men’s loss of faith in what they are doing and why they are there. Death is seen as inevitable. 'For love of God seems dying' The soldiers have lost their religious faith. This implies that they are not looking forward to any sort of after-life once death has occurred and it makes their situation even more distressing.

Very muted metrical pulse creates a faint and inconsistent beat - like the soldiers, the poem is slowly drained of all life or vigour

Stanzas have well structured appearance yet clumsy rhyme scheme - Owen is employing a technique known as half rhyme. This helps to unsettle the reader and defy the expected outcome, something which again echoes the experience of war. Shows the attempt of soldiers to put on a brave face to protect their masculinity despite their extensive troubles inside

Stanzas have regular pattern and there is no progression - This regularity emphasises the unchanging nature of daily life in the trenches. Shows Owen's belief that war can never be progressive for society 'But nothing happens'

The last line of each stanza is noticeably shorter and indented which emphasises its importance -  Many of these short lines are either rhetorical questions or the repetition of the phrase ‘But nothing happens’. Both have the effect of emphasising the apparent pointlessness of what is going on

In contrast to the brutalities of the war, the vocabulary Owen uses is sophisticated. The most notable feature of the language is Owen’s skilful use of alliterationand assonance. 

A particularly effective example of alliteration comes in the fourth stanza with the repetition of the letters 's', 'f' and 'w' - The repeated use of the ‘s’ sound reminds the reader of the bullets which are whizzing past the ears of the soldiers. As the lines follow one another so, gradually, the ‘s’ sounds fade away; just as the hail of bullets would do. Intertwined into the same stanza are two other careful uses of alliteration as Owen uses the repeated ‘f’s on the third line and ‘w’s of the fourth line to form intricate word patterns. 'Sudden streaks of bullets streak the silence'

A clear example of assonance can be found in the third stanza - The sound of a long ‘o’ in the words 'soak', 'know' and 'grow' emphasises the slow tedious wait for something to occur. This same long ‘o’ sound occurs again in the sixth stanza. 

'Mercilles iced east winds that knife us': Sibilance gives the agressive sound of wind which reinforces the harsh conditions. Merciless - the weather is worse than any human enemy - humans have thoughts and mercy but the weather doesn't, it is cold blooded (no pun intended). Knife - close quarters combat - the weather is clinging to them they cannot shake it

Interpretation of the line: ‘Our brains ache'

The soldiers are in physical pain. The guns are so noisy and the wind is so cold that it has given the soldiers severe headaches.

The soldiers are developing psychological problems. The noise and terror of the war has caused a mental illness known as ‘shell shock’ or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Interpretation of the line: 'We cringe in holes'

The poet makes us think that the soldiers are like frightened animals. The words ‘cringe’ and ‘holes’ remind the reader of how a small scared animal might behave and where it might live.

The poet reminds the reader that the soldiers are just ordinary men. The reader is made to think how they would behave in the same circumstances. Would we be brave and noble or terrified?

Interpretation of the line: '…on us the doors are closed'

The soldiers are thinking back to happier times. The soldiers imagine being at home inside where it is warm. With the door closed, they can shut out the winter weather.

The soldiers are thinking ahead to what lies in store for them. The soldiers cannot get back to their homes. That particular door is shut to them forever and they will almost certainly die in battle.