Exposure

• 'the merciless iced winds that knive us'


  • The men are faced with double peril; enemy soldiers and the risk of hypothermia from exposure.
  • The sibilant ’s' and alliterative‘w’ sounds convey the biting cold, the intensity of the wind that hurts them. They also slow down the rhythm of the lines, which mimics the inescapable exposure that the narrator is feeling. This is also reflected in the length of the lines
  • Personification of wind= the weather is a deliberately vicious and inescapable enemy.
  • 'Merciless'- The wind does not care how much damage it does to the soldiers, showcasing its power
• 'But nothing happens'


  Refrain, a repeated line that appears at the end of stanzas:

  • Repetition- emphasises Owen’s belief that war is futile.
  • Refers to the fact the commanders allowed the men to die in such circumstances.
  • Irony- the soldiers feel nothing is happening; in reality they are dying.
  • Refers to the historical fact that war involves more waiting than fighting.
  • The last line= cyclical structure: The soldiers have achieved nothing; the war is pointless. Refers back to the criticism of the Generals who did nothing to prevent death.
• 'Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence'


  • Positions nature as the enemy, instead of the battle. The sibilant consonants mirror the sound of gunfire which shows the reader that the snow is the real threat.
  • This emphasises the contrast between the silence and the sudden gunfire.
  • The alliterative ‘streak’ and ‘silence’ convey the sense of speed, suddenness and harsh noise.
  • Silence relates to sound, but streak is something the soldiers will see. This device is known as syneasthesia.
• 'Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous'

  • ‘curious, nervous’ suggests that the soldiers aren’t as brave as they are set out to be. The sibilance could mirror the whispering of the soldiers but could also mimic the wind whistling in a cruel, harsh, and merciless way.
  • Asyndetic list: creates a terseness that reflects the mood of the soldiers.
  • “Worried by silence” links back to the “night is silent”. This use of repetition reinforces the effects of the silence- tension, and fear of the unknown.
• 'We turn back to our dying'

  • Ironically casual:Owen expresses this almost nonchalantly; the soldiers were expecting and waiting to die.
  • It is also ambiguous as it could refer to the wounded soldiers around them; in other words, they turn back to be physically and spiritually close to their dying comrades.