AQA English GCSE
Poetry: Power and Conflict
Exposure - Wilfred Owen
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EXPOSURE
Wilfred Owen
Brief Summary
The speaker describes the terrifying experience of a night in the trenches in the first world
war. The poem shows the trauma experienced by soldiers in the trenches.
Synopsis
● The soldiers are waiting in a trench
● They are scared to rest because they
could be attacked at any time
● Nothing eventually happens
● They watch the nature and the trenches
which all seem to show signs of suffering
● They can hear fighting in the background
● Dawn only seems to bring more misery
and suffering
● The cold is another aggressor and
appears to be more of a threat than the
enemy soldiers
● The passing of time is marked by snow transitioning into signs of spring
Context
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
Originally, Owen pursued a career in the church however, he felt that it was hypocritical as it
failed in its duty to care for its dependants. He became a soldier and was killed in battle one
week before the armistice in 1918. War poetry was a new form at the time as there hadn’t
been a major war in more than 100 years.
Owen’s inspiration in his writing was drawn greatly from the work of John Keats and
Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon later acted as a mentor to Owen whilst he suffered from
shellshock in hospital. At this time, a therapist advised Owen to write about his experiences
in his poetry, so his work expresses the true horror of war rather than him internalising it.
Exposure
The poem was written in 1917 whilst Owen was fighting in the trenches which creates an
authentic first person narrative as the poem was written by an actual soldier in the midst of
conflict. In contemporary Britain, war was romanticised to the point that it had gained
mythical status. This was reflected in most other war poetry at the time which focused on the
honour of fighting. Owen dispelled “the old lie” by exposing the horrific reality of war.
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Exposure
Nature is personified in a Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us ... The use of alliteration
sinister way to create Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent ... here makes the
fear in the listener. Low, drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient ... phrase difficult to
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, say, alluding to the
But nothing happens. difficulty of the
This use of asyndetic soldier’s lives.
listing creates a rushed, Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire,
panicked pace and Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
contrasts with the content Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,
of the poem. Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.
What are we doing here? This is an
uncomfortable image
This rhetorical question The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow ... to hear.
implies that the speaker We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.
is questioning his Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army
motivation to fight. Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey,
But nothing happens.
Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.
Nature is further Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,
personified to be evil With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause, and renew, The use of sibilance
here We watch them wandering up and down the wind's and fricatives here
Nonchalance, create a horrific
But nothing happens. image.
Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces-
We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare,
snow-dazed,
Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse, sun-dozed,
Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses.
– Is it that we are dying?
Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires, glozed
This religious reference With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there;
implies that there is a For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;
lack of religiously Shutters and doors, all closed: on us the doors are closed, -We turn This blunt, passive
imposed morality back to our dying. statement shows the
remaining in the soldiers’
situation- highlighting the Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn; disillusionment with
cruelty of it. Now ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit. their cause.
. For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid;
Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born,
For love of God seems dying.
Tonight, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,
Shrivelling many hands. puckering foreheads crisp.
The burying-party, picks and shovels in their shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,
But nothing happens.
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The Opening
The opening “our brains ache in the merciless iced winds” closely resembles the
opening of Keates’ poem “Ode to a Nightingale” which shows his influence on Owen.
Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us . . .
Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent . . .
Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient . . .
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
But nothing happens.
By opening the poem with a reference to “brains”, Owen establishes the poem’s focus on
the psychological impact of war. This reference could also be interpreted in multiple ways.
He could be referring to the physical brain and the literal ache from the cold causing the
soldier’s physical suffering from their exposure to the elements. Owen could also however,
be referring to the mind and the psychological pain inflicted by being forced to bear witness
to seeing “half-known faces” die.
Form
Rhyme scheme
The consistency of the rhyme scheme allows the fifth line to stand out, emphasising its
message. The consistency of the rhyme scheme shows the monotony of war, as does the
regular stanzas.
Owen builds rich imagery throughout the stanza and then the simple fifth line creates an
anti-climax. This mirrors the way in which the soldiers must stay constantly alert, yet nothing
ever happens. This highlights the futility of war.
Pararhymes
Owen creates an underlying
atmosphere of unease through the
pararhyme between “winds that
knife us” and “curious, nervous” .
By only rhyming the consonants,
Owen leaves the reader unsatisfied
to mirror the soldiers’ feelings of
unease. The reader is left anticipating
a rhyme in the same way the soldiers
are on edge anticipating a battle. This
unconventional use of rhyming
creates the impression that the poem
is only just being kept together just
like the soldiers are only just coping.
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Structure
Owen employs a chaotic structure in his poem to mirror the chaos and panic of war.
Cyclical structure
The last line of the first and last stanza is “but nothing happens” which connects the end
and beginning of the poem to emphasise the fact that nothing has happened in that time.
Anaphora
The speaker repeats “but nothing happens” to emphasise the futility of war. The situation
remains the same despite their suffering so they aren’t achieving anything. This leads the
speaker to question “ what are we doing here” . It is often interpreted that Owens wasn’t
objecting to war itself but against unnecessary wars and poor leadership.
Caesura
Owen uses punctuation to separate home from the trenches. The colon used in “slowly our
ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires” depicts the soldiers to be imagining the
warmth of their homes. Yett there is a barrier between the two places as they cannot return
and must instead stay and fight in the cold.
Ellipses
The first three lines end with
ellipses (“east winds that
knive us…”, “the night is
silent…”, “our memory of
the salient…” to emphasise
the waiting and boredom of
the soldiers. Owen’s use of
ellipsis slows the pace of the
poem to force the reader to
experience the same
frustration as the soldiers due
to their suffering being
stretched out with time.
Language
Religious references
Owen presents the soldiers to be carrying out their moral duty to protect the innocent
people at home; the speaker says “for love of God seems dying”. Owen uses a
contemporary listener’s association of Christianity with morality to show the soldiers’
selflessness. This can be tied to the idea of Jesus suffering and dying to save humanity.
A similar sense of acceptance of death is shown in “we turn back to our dying”.
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The poem could also be interpreted to show the soldiers losing their love for God. Their faith
is “dying” as it is difficult to reconcile the theory of a benevolent God with the reality of
conflict. This links to Owen’s short career in the church resulting in his view of it being
hypocritical.
Sibilance
Sibilance is used in “sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence” to position
nature as the enemy. The sibilant consonants mirror the sound of gunfire which shows
the reader that the snow is the real threat as snowflakes slice through the air in the same
way as bullets. This breaks the silence previously described. It appears the battle the
soldiers were waiting for is not with the opposition but with nature instead. The snowfall is
not the “dull rumour of some other war”, it is an immediate threat. The sinister
atmosphere is perpetuated by the serpent like connotations of the sibilance used.
Personification of nature
Nature symbolises the antagonist throughout the poem to imply that nature is an even bigger
threat than the actual enemy. In “dawn massing in the east her melancholy army”, Owen
juxtaposes the nurturing role traditionally associated with a female nature figure with the
aggressive connotations of an army.
Simultaneously, Owen minimises the significance of the actual fighting occurring. He makes
a direct comparison by describing the actual battle as “less deadly than the air that
shudders black with snow” which, through the deathlike connotations of the colour
black, ironically suggests that the soldiers have gone away to fight with nature instead of the
opposition. The ongoing battle is further presented to be insignificant through Owen’s use of
auditory imagery in “gunnery rumbles” and “like a dull rumour of some other war”.
Reality of war
Boredom
The passage of time is represented by the description of the season changing from
“snow-dazed” to “sun-dosed” with “blossoms” and “blackbird fusses”. This shows how
long they are in the trenches for just waiting.
Soldiers are forgotten
Owen conveys the despondency felt by the soldiers who believe that they are being
forgotten. The metaphor “On us the doors are closed” implies that as those at home in
safety carry on with life as normal, they forget about the soldiers dying for them. Owen
laments the military leaders’ view of soldiers as dispensable by depicting the soldiers as
indistinguishable from mud in “this frost will fasten on this mud and us”.
Suffering
Owen’s description of the environment is indicative of an individual in a great deal of pain.
He negatively personifies the wind as “mad gusts tugging on the wire like twitching
agonies” and the wire is referred to as “brambles”.
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Fear
The soldiers are unable to sleep due to their fear driven constant state of alertness. The
speaker states that “wearied, we stay awake because the night is silent ” as if they are
scared to sleep even though “ nothing happens”. The second there is a lapse in their
concentration, the “dull rumour of some other war” poses a threat.
Comparisons
The Prelude (William Wordsworth)
Similarities ● Nature is presented to be an inescapable force in both poems. The
natural imagery in “rocky cove”, “mountain echoes” and “craggy
ridge” permeates the poem. There is similar recurring imagery in
exposure in “mad gusts”, “rain soaks” and “flowing flakes”. This
serves to highlight the overwhelming influence of nature which
changes the perspective of the listener, causing them to realise the
speaker, and their own insignificance.
Differences ● Wordsworth gives nature power due to its great expanse which is
shown in the visual imagery of the “horizon’s utmost boundary”
and “a huge peak”. In exposure however, nature’s power comes
from it’s sheer aggression which is created by the violent
connotations of “iced east winds that knive us” and “Dawn
massing in the east her melancholy army”.
Charge of the Light Brigade (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
Similarities ● Tennyson is critical of military leader’s decisions by bluntly declaring
“Someone had blundered” and stating “Honour the Light
Brigade” at the end rather than their leaders. Owen is similarly
negative and creates this effect by depicting the soldiers as isolated
in “Worried by silence” which implies that they have been
abandoned by the authority that put them there.
● Both poets repeat phrases to criticise how violence and military
mistakes continue to repeat themselves. Tennyson repeats “six
hundred” to emphasise the vast number of lives lost as well as
“Cannon” to remind the listener that the Light Brigade is
surrounded by weaponry. Similarly, Owen repeats “nothing
happens” to show that they are being forced to wait in the freezing
trenches for no reason.
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Differences ● As Tennyson was poet laureate at the time he would not have been
able to be outwardly critical of the government hence why the poem
contains lexis from the semantic field of propaganda in “glory”,
“Honour” and “Noble”. Owen did not have these restrictions as he
was a soldier on the front line at the time of writing it.
● Tennyson is critical of rash action in his poem which is shown by the
brash verb “plunged” whereas Owen detests the waiting in the
trenches.
Bayonet Charge (Ted Hughes)
Similarities ● Both poets depict soldiers who have reached the battlefield and
realised that it is largely different to what they have been ‘sold’.
Owen shows this through his use of the rhetorical question “What
are we doing here?” and Hughes does so through the despondent
simile “a rifle numb as a smashed arm”.
● The psychological element of fighting is also addressed in both
poems. In Bayonet Charge, this is evident in the soldier’s
questioning on “Was he the hand pointing that second?” which
could imply that he is questioning his motivations here. In Exposure,
Owen is more explicit as the speaker complains of an “ache” in his
brain as well as showing that he has given up in “We turn back to
our dying”.
Differences ● In exposure, the soldier seems relatively prepared to fight which is
shown by the repetition of “nothing happens”. Contrastingly, the
soldier in Bayonet Charge “almost stopped”, showing his extreme
reluctance.
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