1. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
Starter Task
Re-read the poem
Bullet point one sentence to explain what is going on in each stanza (you should end up with 8 bullet points)

2. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
Starter Task
The speaker is a soldier in the trenches of WW1. It is night and they are waiting for the enemy to attack, but the trenches are silent and nothing is happening.
They can hear the wind and explosions in the distance but nothing is happening where they are.
Dawn breaks and it is raining, wet, cold and miserable.
There are occasional bullets sounding but they seem less dangerous than the freezing weather.
It is snowing heavily and they try to hide from it because they are so cold.
They are finally able to sleep and they dream of home.
They believe that they have to die to save those at home.
He thinks about the night ahead which will be freezing cold and many soldiers will die, but they will still be waiting for the enemy attack.

3. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
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 memories of the salient…
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
But nothing happens.
Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire,
Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,
Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.
What are we doing here?
The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow…
We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.
Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army
Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey,
Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.
Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,
With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause, and renew,
We watch them wandering up and down the wind’s nonchalance,
Theme of 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.
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.
Theme of Weather
The freezing conditions are seen as being as 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.
The weather is likened to an army that gathers and assaults the soldiers in the trenches.

4. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
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
With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there;
For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;
Shutters and doors, all closed: on us the doors are closed, –
We turn back to our dying.
Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;
Nor ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit.
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 the shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,
But nothing happens.
Theme of 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.
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.

5. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
Exposure
To death
– of themselves and others
To the extreme weather conditions
Photograph
- The exposure creates the print and this poem is highly photographic (lots of imagery)

6. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
Alliteration
Slower – reflects the length of time waiting
Weariness emphasised
Sibilance in the opening line
Sound of the wind? = cold & sinister
Sound of a snake = danger
Half rhyme
Owen wants to make us feel uneasy straight away
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 memories of the salient…
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
But nothing happens.
METAPHOR
The wind is so cold and strong, it is like they are being stabbed by it
Suggests danger & life-threatening
Short, indented line
Emphasises the disappointment
Sibilance
Recreates the sound of silence – hushed waiting

7. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
Participle endings
Used to prolong the present – emphasises the waiting
Personification
Describing the wind how the men feel themselves
TRANSPOSITION of their own emotions onto outside world
Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire,
Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,
Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.
What are we doing here?
Simile/Metaphor
Famous image of soldier, dead, wrapped in barbed wire
Simile
Ironic - like the soldiers’ brains have distanced themselves from the war they’re in
Rhetorical Question
Why are they fighting?
Protesting / challenging the reader to answer.

8. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
Dawn personified in this stanza
It is described as an army
Emphasising sadness
- Not fear like you’d expect
Half-rhyme
Doesn’t quite rhyme
Rhymes but not in the right place
Unpredictable – like the attack they’re waiting for
The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow…
We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.
Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army
Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey,
But nothing happens.
Transposition
Describing the dawn like this, but also this is how the soldiers feel
Repeated
Becomes a refrain, like the chorus of a song
- Emphasises the waiting
Talking about the battle, but also the inaction of anyone to do anything about the conditions – the war just continues despite the suffering

9. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
Sibilance
Represents the sound of bullets
But ironic because it is a soft sound – the danger is removed & they feel this.
Metaphor
Compares bullets to birds (flying through the sky)
Personification
And Transposition – they are shuddering
Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.
Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,
With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause, and renew,
We watch them wandering up and down the wind’s nonchalance,
But nothing happens.
Repetition
Repetition of ‘nothing’ emphasises the futility (pointlessness) of the situation
Transposition
The people at home are also nonchalent about the suffering of the soldiers

10. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
Personification
Makes the snow seem sneaky/sly/crafty – nightmarish image.
Suggesting that nature has wicked intentions – the silent enemy.
Alliteration
Harsh ‘f’ sound reflects the harsh conditions. Sounds angry/aggressive.
Theme of Despair
They are reminiscing about better times.
Dreamless = hopeless.
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?
Contrasting images highlight the difference between their normal lives and war.
They dream of home while dosing and these memories are soft, warm and comforting.
Rhetorical Question
Suggests that they are weary / losing consciousness

11. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
Metaphor for dreaming
Suggests death: at home the men are only memories and they may never return. “drag” shows the effort it takes to even dream.
Glozed = to flatter or ‘gloss over’ the truth
Is this dream temporarily ‘glossing over’ the reality of war?
Comforting images of home:
‘Dark-red’ suggests warmth
sound of ‘crickets’ outside on a summer’s night in comparison to the sounds of bullets;
Also ‘cricket’ as traditionally English;
‘jingle’ suggests celebration, family. Love, food, warmth at Christmas.
Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires, glozed
With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there;
For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;
Shutters and doors, all closed: on us the doors are closed, –
We turn back to our dying.
Repetition
…of ‘closed’ and ‘dying’ (from previous stanza).
Highlights the hopelessness of their situation - all other options (apart from death) are closed to them.
The trenches were infested with vermin.
‘innocent mice’ could also be a metaphor for the young, ‘innocent’ soldiers who often signed up and were ‘blind’ to the realities of war.
Theme of despair

12. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
Use the prompts to make your own annotations
What is the effect of personification here?
What is the significance of faith and religion here?
How are the men feeling about God and why?
Owen is heavily emphasising this message about God. Why??
Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;
Nor ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit.
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.
These words sound similar but do not rhyme completely – what is the effect?
What theme/s do all these relate to & how / why?
What is the effect of the rhyme here?
What is the effect of the ‘fr’ sound repeated here?

13. ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
LO: To understand the poem’s form, structure and language and be able to comment on their effects on the reader
What are the definitions of these two words? What does it suggest about what is happening to the soldiers?
Who is ‘He’? What does this suggest about ‘Him’?
Tonight, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,
Shrivelling many hands, puckering foreheads crisp.
The burying party, picks and shovels in the shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,
But nothing happens.
What is the effect of the sibilance at the end of each line in this stanza?
What mood/tone does this create. What is the effect of the alliteration of the ‘p’ sound?
What is the effect of this metaphor?
What else could have been half-done?