exposure

• our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knife us


  personifies weather as enemy. , deliberately cruel, know it's omnipotent to soldiers, exposes harsh realities of war, sibilance biting cold, knife connotes death and stabbing, soldiers could die from natures violence
• nothing happens


  anaphora soldier's fears are ongoing, repetition emulates soldier's endless cycle of fear and suffering, shows futility of war, ironic they're slowly dying, months of boredom punctuated by moments of terror
• less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow


  directly contrasts battle with weather, underlines suffering of soldiers, exacerbates danger of war isn't just from battle and enemies, it's from nature, colour imagery black connotes death and finality, emphasises mortal peril of soldiers.
• dawn massing in the east her melancholy army


  juxtaposes traditional views of Mother Nature as nurturing with brutal violence of an army, ironic 'dawn' symbol for new beginning and change but no change in sight for soldiers, future looks bleak, highlights soldier's suffering continuous arrival of a new day does not mean a new beginning
• context

  Wilfred Owens was a soldier killed in battle, he was writing the poem in the trenches in 1917, creates impression of salience on reader. wrote poems to express horrors of war
• form

  rhyme scheme, 5th line always stands out, message emphasised more striking to reader. Owens often communicates emotion through inner thoughts how life was reduced to nothing. consistency of the rhyme shows minimal change in war ("but nothing happens")
• structure

  cyclical structure - frames poem showing continuous never ending brutal cycle of war and suffering has no true end. relentless news waiting to die.

  caesura - separates home and freedom from trenches, soldiers dreams of release are not guarenteed