exposure

• Owen's overall purpose with writing poetry was to expose the physical and psychological impact of conflict, as he stated in his preface "all a poet can do today is warn", intending to expose the falsities of patriotic propaganda.
• Owen recounts a first hand experience of war, as he fought on the front line in World War 1, therefore his intent is to lambast conflict and villify nature as the enemy.
• "Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us"


  Disphemistic personification of nature as the brutal enemy - establishes and exposes the abhorrence of war from the opening line
• "knife us" "nervous"


  the constant pararhyme used exposes how young soldiers' lives were cut short by war, as the rhyme is not fully developed, neither were their opportunities in life. It additionally leaves the reader waiting for the rhyme to complete, which mirrors the soldiers' waiting and anticipating death.
• "But nothing happens."


  anticlimactic half-line refrain emphasises the monotony of war considering trench warfare made WW1 a war of attrition, also creating a disjointed and fragmented tone that mirrors the soldiers feelings of disorientation.
• "ranks on shivering ranks of grey"


  repetition - subverts the soldier stereotype as soldier identity is inextricably linked to strength, war strips soldiers of identity as the brutal conditions emasculate them
• "love of God seems dying"


  context - Owen was initially quite pious, however became disillusioned with his faith as the brutality of war exposed the lack of omnibenevolence in society.
• "Slowly our ghosts drag home"


  This metaphor suggests that war has stripped the life of the soldiers and further reminds readers that they are on the brink of death, and war has rendered them a "ghost" of their former selves.
• "What are we doing here?"


  Owen questions the purpose of war as he has become disillusioned due to the abhorrent conditions and trench warfare he has faced.