Exposure

    Cards (19)

    • What year was the poem written?
      1917
    • What was his job?
      Poet and soldier
    • What is the poem based on?
      His first hand experiences in the trenches
    • What is the purpose of the poem?
      Brutality of war
      Criticise the glory associated with war
      Futility of war
    • Describe the tone of the poem:
      Sombre
      haunting
    • Describe the structure of the poem:
      Cyclical structure
      Regular stanzas
      Caesura
    • What does the cylical structure represent?
      The inescapable and ongoing nature of war
    • Why are there regular stanzas?
      Rigid and monotonous lifestyle in the trenches
    • How many stanzas are there?
      8
    • What does the caesura represent?
      The prolonged suffering of the soldiers
    • What rhyme scheme does he use?
      Pararhyme
    • What does pararhyme relfect?
      The discomfort and chaos of war
    • What are two examples of pararhyme?
      "Knife us"
      "Nervous"
    • "Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us"
      relentless and harsh nature of the weather
      personification
      mental exhaustion
    • "But nothing happens"
      repetition emphasise the futility of their situation
      sense of numbness and despair
      absence of a resolution makes their suffering feel increasingly profound
    • "The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow"
      Symbol of hope now linked with suffering
      Intensifies their misery
      Personified as an enemy
    • "For love of God seems dying"
      Soldiers are losing faith
      Disillusionement with the idea of religion
      No longer fear the reprocussions of God after being subject to such belligerent conditions if there were a God as such.
    • "Slowly our ghosts drag home"
      spiritually and emotionally dead
      empty and numb
      exhausting journey
      return is not triumphant
      metaphor
      unable to escape the psychological impact of war
    • How does pararhyme reflect the discomfort of war?
      The incomplete and unsettling sound
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