Exposure

• What poems can be compared to exposure?

  Reality of war: Charge of the light brigade, Bayonet charge

  Power of nature: Storm on the island, Ozymandias, Remains
• "Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us"


  Personification of the wind conveys the physical pain and suffering caused by the harsh weather, highlighting the environments role as an enemy in the trenches.

  Collective pronoun "our" shows this was a shared experience
• "But nothing happens"


  Short simple line emphasises the soldier's boredom and tension

  The cyclical nature of this phrase shows even death doesn't change anything, the soldiers are just drained of hope
• "Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence"


  Sibilance mimics the sound of bullets flying

  Captures the shock of violence, breaking the monotony of waiting for the battle
• "All their eyes are ice"


  Metaphor refers to the eyes of the living and the dead men.

  Suggests even though they may be alive they have been overpowered by nature and their emotions are numb anyway so they may as well be dead
• "For love of God seems dying"


  They are beginning to lose hope in God or believe God's love for them is dying

  Shows the impacts of war mentally and emotionally to believe there is no hope left for survival

  Even God who is omnipotent cannot save them in this moment
• cyclical structure shows how time is never ending and nothing has happened during that time