Exposure

• Who wrote Exposure?

  Wilfred Owens
• Wilfred Owen joined the British Army in 1915 and died in battle on the 4th of November 1918
• Wilfred Owens originally pursued a career in the Church , but gave up on it when he felt like the Church failed to look after those in its locality
• What poet was Wilfred Owens a fan of?

  John Keats
• What were British Attitudes to war in 1914?

  The public hadn't experience a major war for over 100 years , And war became something of myth - It was honourable and exciting
• Why might Wilfred Owen have titled this poem 'Exposure'?

  To expose to us the reality of war
• What did Owen believe about War?

  It was pointless - This was recurring theme throughout his poetry
• The poem doesn't contain any actual battle - The 'war' is between the soldiers and the weather conditions
• What did War poems in the past focus on?

  Glory and patriotism
• In Exposure , Owen exposes the reality of war , by describing what it was like to wait a long time for action which never appears , only to be killed by harsh weather conditions
• How does Owen structure each stanza in Exposure?

  Each stanza begins with a blunt and powerful opening sentence that sets the scene. The opening sentence is follow by highly emotive language that heightens the tension and builds up to a climactic moment. Each stanza ends with an anticlimactic line where very little takes place
• Why might Owen structure his stanzas in the way that he does?

  He wanted readers to empathize with how the soldiers felt - Everything is tense and seems to be building up to a climax , only to end up being nothing - the eight verse repetition reflects the emotional rollercoaster the soldiers were going through daily
• What is the rhyme scheme of Exposure?

  ABBAC
• Why does the rhyme scheme of the poem stay repetitive in its nature?

  It reflects the repetitive and futile situation the soldiers are in
• What is pararhyme?

  Where 2 end of line words contain the same consonant sounds but not the same vowels
• Why is pararhyme used in the poem Exposure?

  It gives the poem a permanent sense of being on edge , sort of not quite right - The perfection of full rhyme is not given to the poem , which reflects how the perfection and closure of the situation in the war is not given to the soldiers
• The final lines of each stanza are deliberately ambiguous - They relate to each other and can be seen as responses to each other - Owen could be questioning himself , but this could also be seen as a criticism of war - Owen believed that war was futile

  
• Why might Owen use the line "For love of God is dying" ?

  Owen had rejected the Church - so this could be read as a suggestion that people lose their religious beliefs when exposed to the horrors of war (Many people at the time questioned why God would allow war to happen)
• In the line "For love of God is dying" , the word 'dying' could be seen as a reference to Christ's death on the cross - Christians believe that Jesus died for our sins to redeem us. Owen could be suggesting that soldiers are Christ-like - they sacrifice themselves to save others
• The line "like a dull rumour of some other war" is Owen deliberately referencing biblical writings about the end of the world - In Matthew 24 , Jesus says "You will hear of wars and rumours of wars" - Owen may use this to suggest the situation that the soldiers are in feels like the end of the world
• Why does Owen use personification throughout the poem?

  The overwhelming use of personification may be used to highlight how weather and nature is more dangerous than weapons and humans
• Why might Owen use sibilance in the poem?

  The repetition of the 'ss' sound mirrors the sound of bullets passing overhead , or the shivering sounds that soldiers make - Sibilance is a sinister sound that creates a negative atmosphere that reminds the reader of the constant threat of the environment that the soldiers are in
• Why might Owen use a lot of caesura within the poem?

  The division in each line reflects the division between life at home and current life for the soldiers during the war
• The use of the line 'But nothing happens' at the start and end of the poem creates a cyclical structure , which shows how th poem ends up back where it started and highlights the futility of war , and how nothing has been achieved - the soldiers are just slowly dying