Exposure

• 3 quotes on exposure:

  • "merciless iced east wind that knifes us"
  • on us all the doors closed"
  • but nothing happens"
• • The first person "our" includes the reader in the suffering of the soldiers= civilians should experience the horror from home rather than glorifying war = sense of unity between soldiers emphasis their dehumanisation - they don't have individual identities, power or authority
  • Sibilant 's' sound = how threatening the wind is =power infinite
  • personifying "iced east wind"= "merciless"= weather= predatory callous enemy = intangible merciless= inescapable
  • knif[ing] wind = attacking wind emphasises futility of war; soldiers fighting against smt intangible = immoral/impossible to destroy
• • Personifying "iced east wind" as "merciless"
The weather is like an intangible yet merciless predator that is inescapable
• "but nothing happens" = repeated refrain emphasises inescapable stasis = haunts soliders

  O subversively creates image of perpetual stasis= denounce jingoistic ideas of glory of war

  "but" = hints that this "nth" is the opposite of what's expected

  O wants readers to see war = futile activity

  repetition of"nth" = perhaps commenting on the way war creates no progress / peace / justice
• "all doors closed"... = O uses image "closed" "doors" = emphasis isolation soldiers feel

  meta= soldiers feel separation from families; meta doors create barrier between themselves n normality

  sym= O commenting on the way that divisions are created between soldiers n society because of propaganda n lack of understanding about realities of war

  "closed" "doors"= O makes division seem almost tangible n we see feeling of entrapment n imprisonment felt by soldiers= traumatic experiences
• who wrote exposure?


  owen
• summary:

  subverts jingoism, patriotism and glorfication of war
• structure:

  cyclical structure