1. LO: To explore language in the poem ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen.

2. Sort these words into three or four groups:
Starter
gas
limped
Sort these words into three or four groups:
bitter
God
mad
afraid
silent
choking
guns
snow
blood
dawn
Students arrange the words into groups (their choice what titles they give the groups). There is no right answer – it’s just to get the students thinking about theme/tone/voice in Owen’s poetry.
eyes
drowning
bullets
marched
dreams
love
monstrous

3. “The state of having no protection from something harmful.”
Do Now: Mind map all the ways that the word ‘exposure’ could relate to what you know about the experience of World War One soldiers so far.
Exposure:
“The state of having no protection from something harmful.”

4. Exposure by Wilfred Owen
Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife 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.
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 gray,              But nothing happens.
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.

5.   Pale flakes with lingering 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; Now 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.
To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and us, Shrivelling many hands and 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.
Wilfred Owen

6. Here is stanza one of the poem:
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.
In pairs discuss the following:
Who do you think is narrating this poem?
Where do you think they are? What is happening around them?
How are they feeling? How do you know?
Dicuss the

7. Listen to the reading of the poem.
Click picture for hyperlink to the video.

8. Let’s read the whole poem together for a second time.
Answer:
What is the poem about?
What is the mood of the poem?
Is it similar or different to the other Owen poems we have seen?
Read the poem as a class explaining any unknown words. Then students discuss the questions in groups and then feedback the answers.

9. You are going to be given a separate stanza of the poem.
Work in pairs to discuss your stanza and annotate your poem
Students look at their own stanza and fill in the worksheet.

10. Join up with a pair who had a different stanza.
1. Take it in turns to describe what is happening in your extract.
2. Share one example of the language used from your annotations.
3. Decide: what are the main differences or similarities between your extracts? How did the language change?

11. Possible interpretations of ‘Exposure’
Exposure describes the extreme weather conditions which men were subjected to in the trenches and what they also died of. A different type of suffering.
Exposing the actuality of war in the Trenches.
Perhaps Owen ‘exposes’ himself to public criticism?

12. Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us...
Harsh monosyllabic words – emphasise the harsh conditions
Assonance – sharp ‘A’ sound to indicate the physical pain
Personification of wind – harsh, cruel
Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife 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.
Ellipses, wants us to ponder on the idea, cruel winter
Assonance – O – slows pace – like time dragging on?
Assonance – elongated ‘e’ sound to emphasise their fatigue
Reference to Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale
Unnatural silence – makes soldiers nervous
Sibilance of the repeated ‘s’ sound creates the effect of whispering, an attempt to not draw the attention of the enemy, who are futilely using flares to see what is going on.

13. Distant sounds of war
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?
Weather brings back memories of watching fellow solders die on the barbed wire
Real war seems distant, while they nervously wait
Rhetorical question – is there presence pointless? How? Why?

14. The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow...
Military language to describe the daily assault of the weather
Use of ellipsis – time dragging on? Make the reader reflect on soldiers’ misery?
Even dawn brings no comfort
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 gray,
But nothing happens.
Monotony of the weather; regardless of what happens, the outlook – war/weather -is grim, relentless
Dawn is personified as female, but a cruel and merciless taker not a creator of life – subversion of caring and compassionate Mother Nature
The incessant waiting continues

15. Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.
Has the battle started again? It is compared as less ‘deathly’ than the snow: use of sibilance (repetition of ‘s’ sound) – soft sound to highlight how deadly weather can be in comparison.
Alliteration of soft ‘f’ sound – highlight the seemingly perpetual onslaught of the snow
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.
‘Black’ – death?
emphasises the constancy of the extreme cold and misery
Passing time – watching snowfall. Weather uncaring.
Are they more likely to die from the cold than a bullet?
Repetition – waiting, waiting.

16. Pale flakes with lingering stealth come feeling for our faces -
Juxtaposition of the fear and bleakness of trench warfare with the gentle images of the British countryside
Nature is the real enemy, coming unawares, silent assassin
Pale flakes with lingering 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?
Hypnotic effect of the snow
Memories of home
Wonders if the images are an sign they are dying
Use of half-rhyme – leaves us dissatisfied. Reflects his ideas that war is also not what it should be

17. Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires glozed
Repetition of closed – emphasises the hopelessness of not being allowed into the warmth
War can kill spiritually?
Caesura: prepare us for their memories and thoughts
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.
feelings of comfort and satisfaction linked with the dream of home
The fires are beautiful but, like jewels, offer no warmth or comfort
House is deserted; would they be welcome if they went home? They are compelled and expected to stay where they are.

18. Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;
War is for a just cause, to give security to the generations to come.
They fear that if the enemy isn’t conquered that there will never be fires burning in the hearths of home again.
Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;
Now 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.
He questions us - is war caused because man's love for God is dying or God's love for man is dying?
Suggests that the men die willingly for others – Christ-like

19. To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,
War can lead to a loss of faith in God/God is responsible for the suffering caused by nature
To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,
Shrivelling many hands and 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.
The reality of fulfilling this last duty for comrades
Death will come to some but from the conditions , not the enemy
Poem comes full circle - the same vicious cycle lies in wait for the fresh recruits.

20. Exposure by Wilfred Owen
Who is the biggest threat to man
Man himself
War
Bullets
Weather
Nature
Duty / Compulsion / Expectation
Absence of God
Your Task:
Pick one of these points and find three quotes to support your argument.

21. Personal response
What might be the thoughts and emotions going through the soldiers’ mind on this freezing night?
Write a letter home from one of the soldiers, using short quotes to support what you say.

22. Plenary
What is it that Owen is ‘Exposing’ in his poem?