The poem depicts soldiers waiting endlessly in terrible conditions on the frontlines during World War I. It describes the men growing numb to their surroundings as they endure the bitter cold, silence, and constant threat of attack. The poem highlights the misery and resignation of soldiers who have lost hope as they are continually exposed to the harsh elements, foreshadowing their inevitable deaths from cold and combat.

1. EXPOSURE
By Wilfred Owen

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zDnzb06Kfc
Wilfred Owen
Owen, 1893-1918, was a soldier and a
renowned war-time poet who fought in the
first world war

3. Exposure
Exposure is about the journey of the war, how
there is endless waiting around for an attack in
awful conditions; it depicts the dying emotions of
the men, almost making them immune to what is
happening around them, it is based on Owens own
experience on the frontline in 1917

4. Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us...
Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent...
Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient...
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
But nothing happens.
Structure
Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire.
Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
Northward incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,
Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war. Use of half-
What are we doing here?
The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow...
rhyme, ‘knife us’/
We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.
Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army ‘nervous’
Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of gray,
But nothing happens.
Night (stanza 1)
Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.
Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,
With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew, Dawn (stanza 3)
We watch them wandering up and down the wind's
nonchalance,
But nothing happens.
II Day (stanza 4-7)
Pale flakes with lingering stealth come feeling for our faces -
We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare, snow-
dazed,
Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse, sun-dozed,
Night (stanza 8)
Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses.
Is it that we are dying?
Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires glozed
With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there;
For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;
Shutters and doors all closed: on us the doors are closed -
We turn back to our dying.
Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;
Now ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit.
For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid;
The poem is in the
Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born,
For love of God seems dying. form of eight 5 line
To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,
Shrivelling many hands and puckering foreheads crisp.
stanzas, the last line
The burying-party, picks and shovels in their shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice, in shorter than the
But nothing happens.
rest

5. Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us...
Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent...
Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient...
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
But nothing happens.
Language
Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire.
Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
Northward incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,
Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.
The line ‘We only know war
What are we doing here?
lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag
The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow...
We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy. stormy’ is a trip phrase of
Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army
Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of gray,
But nothing happens.
misery, highlighting the never ending
Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence. melancholy
Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,
With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew,
We watch them wandering up and down the wind's nonchalance,
But nothing happens.
Alliteration used
II
This line ‘The poignant misery
Pale flakes with lingering stealth come feeling for our faces -
We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams, and stare, snow-dazed,
Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse, sun-dozed,
of dawn begins to grow’
Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses.
Is it that we are dying? represents dawn rising, dawn
Slowly our ghosts drag home: glimpsing the sunk fires glozed is also personified
With crusted dark-red jewels; crickets jingle there;
For hours the innocent mice rejoice: the house is theirs;
Shutters and doors all closed: on us the doors are closed -
We turn back to our dying. The line ‘But nothing happens’ after
Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn;
Now ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit. the first verse leads to an anti-climax
For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid;
Therefore, not loath, we lie out here; therefore were born,
For love of God seems dying.
To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,
Shrivelling many hands and puckering foreheads crisp.
The burying-party, picks and shovels in their shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,
But nothing happens.

6. Stanza 8 – burial party
Illustrates how
‘us’ personified, creates sense of war has hardened
‘half known faces’
sympathy towards solider, makes the men, it shows
have lost their
their situation more relatable to a lack of emotion
identity
the reader
To-night, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,
Shrivelling many hands and puckering foreheads crisp.
The burying-party, picks and shovels in their shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,
Lost hope, emphasizes But nothing happens.
resignation of soldiers
Repetition of this
Descriptive imagery
emphasizes ‘exposure’
used, symptoms of severe
frostbite

7. Summary
• ‘Exposure’ can be linked to:
• Birdsong
• Insensibility
• Journeys end