Exposure

• Exposure was written by Wilfred Owen in 1917
• The last stanza ends with 'But nothing happens' echoing the first stanza, mirroring the monotony of life
• 'What are we doing here?' rhetorical question, contrasting to propaganda attitude, Owen views war as pointless
• 'Sudden successive' sibilance is used to highlight the extreme cold weather, foreshadowing the death of the soldiers
• 'Half-known faces' emphasises the extreme weather, as the corpses are deformed
• 'Slowly our ghosts drag home' creates the impression that soldiers returned home as if they were a spirit, they have no life in them
• 'Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army' contradiction of light and hope; colour imagery conveys ideas of despair