Exposure- Wilfred Owen

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  • Created by: Mills
  • Created on: 30-01-18 17:15
"ices east winds that knive us"
Personification: weaponising nature, nature is strong and soldiers are weak
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"flickering gunnery rumbles"
Distant sound, like machinery is a distant thought, destruction by nature is more outstanding to the soldiers nature causes more suffering to the soldiers.
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"flights of bullets streak the silence"
Machinery is only momentary however weather is more persistent in harming the soldiers, eg "we only know war lasts, rain soaks" weather is a constant enemy whereas the opposition is every now and then.
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"forgotten dreams"
The soldiers dream of their homes, a sign of hope and peace however this is quickly cut off by the "dying"
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"ghosts drag home"
War changes and manipulates the soldiers, physically and mentally, like the way nature is corrupted,showing that war has terrible effects on everything.
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"shutters and doors, all closed"
image of home shutting out the soldiers, they are lost and forgotten. they are rejected, no sign of hope.
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"god's invincible spring"
hope and faith is fading, lost a sense of self, loss of humanity, so destructive and barbaric it destroys faith. Killing is a sin, God is not benevolent.
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"this frost will fasten on this mud and us"
Metaphor. Ground and soldier are bound together, restrained, compelled to stay, enveloped by the environment. Like being buried, suggest that the soldiers will die. Fricative "f" like shivering freezing. Sibilance, quiet sound, theme of nothingness.
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"but nothing happens"
Repeated. Image of the men waiting while they freeze to death. War wasn't all fighting and heroism, sometimes the soldiers would be waiting for days before making progress, this may have been Owen's purpose to highlight this often unknown part of war
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Stanza length
All stanzas are the same length and size, this could mimic the organised and repetitive nature of the soldiers lives.
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line length
the last line of each stanza are much shorter, this implies the lines' ssignificance to highlighting the sense of waiting, boredom and uncertainty the men face.
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"death"
Death is repeated several times throughout the poem, suggesting death is all around the soldiers it is inescapable.
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poetic voice
First person plural, "us" "our". Shows the unity between the soldiers and that everyone experiences the suffering, perhaps mimicingthe feelings Owen's felt when he was an officer in the war.
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"exposure"
Exposure to the elements OR exposure to the truth about war
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

"flickering gunnery rumbles"

Back

Distant sound, like machinery is a distant thought, destruction by nature is more outstanding to the soldiers nature causes more suffering to the soldiers.

Card 3

Front

"flights of bullets streak the silence"

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

"forgotten dreams"

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

"ghosts drag home"

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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