21.11.2011

Oceane Litrico

Exposure pg. 80

Background Info: Written during the winter of 1917, and edited the following year, while Wilfred was at Craiglockhart. We can notice this poem has its particularities (mainly his structure)compared to Wilfred's usual poems most likely due to the fact that it was edited by yet another poet; Edmund Blunden.

To/Purpose:

This poem is more like a story, not really talking to anyone in particular:

•  to fellow soldiers who understand the grief and confusion.

•  to outsiders warm at home who therefore get an insight on the war.

Form: For this poem Wilfred Owen doesn't really have a form, he uses pararhyme to get us to understand and comprehend his message and meaning. Except for the sentences at the end, which give more insight, while at the same time confusing the reader.

•  the pararhyming is used to create a harsher conflict between the words, compared to just usual rhyming.

•  it could also be used to demonstrate/recreate the confusion the soldiers had during the war; 5th line of every stanza...?

Tone/Mood: The tone is very exciting, sort of; it keeps the reader on the edge of their chair.The way Wilfred asks questions or puts his little statements at the end of each stanza really intrigues and interests the reader into reading, and comprehending further into the poem. The message is portrayed by the use of pathetic fallacy, which is the mood given by the weather.

Stylistic Devices: Title: Introduces the situation; the soldiers are cold and vulnerable. The war affects them physically and mentally.

Stanza 1

L1: 'Our brains ache' = 'My heart aches' John Keats (Ode to a Nightingale). Personification of the winds; 'merciless' = they don't care. 'Winds' = enemy= the Germans and the weather.

L1-L3: '...' shows the suspense, the waiting of the soldiers for something to happen.

L2: 'Wearied we keep awake' the 'w' creates a very continuous and monotonous movement again showing the ongoing battle, not just for the war, but with the urge to stay awake and alert- they are so cold they can't properly stay awake anymore.

L3: 'salient' = bulge in a military line of attack/defence. the 'low drooping flares' probably scare them and as fear takes over them they forget their usual/needed formation. In this case the '...' at the end is maybe used instead to represent the image of the craziness and the fear of everything going on.

L4: 'silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,' example of alliteration; build up then; 'but nothing happens.' Which demonstrates the franticness with which this scene is unfolding.

Stanza 2

L1: 'Mad gusts tugging on the wire'. Again, personification. Allusion to the weather as being a soldier? 'Tugging on the wire' shows the brutality and the force of the wind, but possibly also meaning the soldiers; they are trapped.

L2: Not sure if it's a simile or not..? 'Twitching agonies' gives a vivid picture; imagery. 'Brambles' are blackberry bushes.

L3-L4: Simile. Either they have blocked off the sound and reality of the war because of their current desperate situation (='like'), or the battle is actually further away.

L5: 'What are we doing here?' Wilfred is asking; soldier- why are we here, we have no importance, and outsiders- why did you send us? Why did we come? (Demonstrates confusion.)

Stanza 3

L1: 'Poignant' 1.sadness or regret, 2.keenly felt. 'Dawn' = a new day, a negative repetition. '...' = realization.

L2: They only remember the negatives; there are no positives. Again, the imagery and idea of repetition and nonchalance.

L4: As if the soldiers are just aligned and put especially in ranks to get wiped out. 'Shivering' = cold. Repetition of 'ranks' meaning there are many! 'Grey' = loss of color, loss of life.

L5: Once more, Wilfred creates a suspenseful atmosphere and then lets us down; maybe like we let him down?

Stanza 4

L1: Contrast to 'Nothing Happens'. Alliteration showing the suddenness and rapidity of the bullets made with the 's' sound.

L2: Personification on the 'air' shows that the bullets, and war in general is nothing compared to the deadliness of the weather. 'Shudders black with snow' demonstrates 1.how much snow there is or 2.gives a feel to the atmosphere-white=good, angelic color, black=death, bad color.

L3: Sudden change in tone. Alliteration on the 'f' sound gives a gentle thought. But the understatement is not gentle at all; they look pretty and nice, but they are deadly and bring cold and misery.

L4: Peaceful, kind of numbness given with alliteration of 'w'. Nonchalance=not feeling/showing interest or enthusiasm.

L5: 'But nothing happens' acceptance that nothing does happen. (What should happen?)

Stanza 5

L1: Alliteration of 'f'. Personification on flakes giving them a role as well. Significance= they were fighting against death/the cold/the war, and finally they end up giving up (..because they are too weak to go on?) Stealth=acting or behaving in a quiet or secret way.

L2: 'Cringe' meaning they are vulnerable, frightened, also reminds us of the snow (..onomatopoeia?). Remembrance- they dream no more. Snow-dazed: Sort of half awake trance- leads to flashback. (Kind of feels like a mental state.)

L3: Now in a mirage/dream shown by transition/pararhyme 'snow-dazed' to 'sun-dozed'- 'snow' to 'sun'.

L3: ‘Glozed’ and ‘dozed represent the comfort the soldiers are remembering.

L4: Old memory mixed with new context. Reference of 'littering' to blossoms. The 'blossoms trickling' /falling slowly, one by one, signifies the cold of the season, and the time passing slowly by. 'Blackbird' = 'fusses'= during the winter it is known to have an unpleasant song.

L5: Are we imagining this because we are dead, in heaven?

Stanza 6

L1: 'Our ghosts drag home' 1. They are dead; their souls are the only ones to come back (remembrance), 2. They are so affected by the war and the cold that they are basically dead (mentally).

L2: 'Crusted dark-red jewels' are scars. The adjective 'jewels' shows they are trying to convince themselves that it is a good thing, they didn't suffer for nothing. 'Crickets jingle' foreshadowing what the return resemble; quiet, those scars mean nothing to others.

L3 to 4: 'Innocent mice rejoice' they are uninformed of the war, 'all closed'.. giving the image of an empty house.

L4: 'On us the doors are closed' meaning they have no choice; no turning back, or that they no longer belong somewhere; all hope is lost; regret and sadness.

L5: 'We turn back to our dying'. -it was a moment of unimportance, nothing matters anymore, they block it out; they want death to come.

Stanza 7:back to tragic reality of the war.

L1: '...fires burn' signifies that they have been in the cold for so long that they haven't experienced a fire in a long time too, and they can only believe that they burn; exaggeration on loss of memory to give more context.

L2: Basically same thing, but with the sun.. warm things are like forgotten distant memories.

L4 to 5: They are sacrificing themselves for their homelands and families. They were 'born to die'. And if that's the case they have no reason to live in the first place-no reason to believe in anything- giving up hope, and therefore, God. (lack of emotions).

L5: ‘For love of God seems dying’. Denontes Owen’s thoughts; is war caused because man’s love for God is dying, or because God’s love for man is dying?

Stanza 8

L1: 'His frost' = God's frost, meaning death. Allusion to the mud and then 'us' shows how reduced and less than human the soldiers are due to the extreme conditions.

L2: Very strong imagery giving us a clear insight and photo of what this battle against weather resembled. Dehumanization.

L3 to 4 to 5: The burying party know these soldiers but don’t even recognize them. 'All their eyes are ice'; referring to soldiers or burying party? -'but nothing happens' shows they were basically dead before, so nothing has changed from the beginning, nothing matters.