EXPOSURE ‘Expose’ – to make something visible. What are the soldier’s exposed to? What might the poet want to expose about war?

What is the poem about? It describes how men suffer in the cold trenches in WW1 just like Wilfred Owen did. The message is  their suffering is POINTLESS It goes against war poets like Jessie Pope ‘Who’s for the game’

AO3 Context (author, time, place) Wilfred Owen is a famous war poet during WW1. He died a week before the war ended. All the poems that were made about war had glorified it and made it seem amazing. Wilfred Owen, wrote poems that showed the true harsh reality of war. Wilfred had to sit in snow for 2-3 nights.

structure AO2 - Structure Each stanza begins with a blunt sentence and ends with a line about nothing – build up of intensity then an anti-climax JUST HOW THE SOLDIERS FELT WAITING AND THEN NOTHING HAPPENING ABBAC rhyme scheme - stays this way to create a repetitive nature JUST LIKE THE REPETITIVE NATURE OF WAR THAT THE SOLDIERS WENT THROUGH. The questions that get asked, also get answered LIKE THE SOLDIER’S STUCK INSIDE HIS OWN HEAD ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS HIMSELF.

But nothing happens. But nothing happens. Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent Low, drooping flares confuse our memories of the salient Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, But nothing happens. The first and last stanzas end in the same way. NOT FOUND THE POINT OF WAR CONFLICT IS INESCAPEABLE Tonight, His frost will fasten on this mud and us, Shrivelling many hands, puckering foreheads crisp. The burying party, picks and shovels in the shaking grasp, Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice, But nothing happens.

Stanza by stanza analysis Uncomfortable start to the poem Violent image Brutal weather Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent Low, drooping flares confuse our memories of the salient Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, But nothing happens. What method is this? It adds to the silence and creates a sinister atmosphere to start the poem ? A salient is a bulge of soldiers who go past the trenches.

Stanza by stanza analysis Simile comparing the wind to how the men are twitching nervously 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. What are we doing here? Rhetorical Question shows frustration Can hear the rumble of gunfire in the distance. “rumbles”  thunder

Stanza by stanza analysis The morning comes back and they are miserable to keep fighting The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow… We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy. Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey, But nothing happens. The soldiers are not even humans just ranks of shivering grey The morning is personified like it is getting an army ready to fight = extended metaphor of the enemy being the weather

Stanza by stanza analysis Air is shuddering with snow – dark imagery with the “black” and it is personification Can you spot another example of sibilance? It copies the sound of bullets pelting the air Gunfire is LESS DEADLY than the snow 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, We watch them wandering up and down the wind’s nonchalance, But nothing happens. Repetition of “but nothing happens”

Stanza by stanza analysis Even the snowflakes are deadly! Stealth – being crafty or sneaky All the soldiers had to cancel their hopes and dreams for war Pale flakes with fingering 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, Littered with blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses. Is it that we are dying? This stanza makes it seem like the soldiers slip out of consciousness

Stanza by stanza analysis Flashback to memories of home 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. The houses are empty and the fires are out because the men have gone to war “on us the doors are closed” does this mean the government turning their back on them?

Stanza by stanza analysis They all believed that war was the only way for life at home to carry on Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn; Nor ever suns smile true on child, or field, or fruit. 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. Wilfred Owen had originally wanted to work in the church- is he showing some hatred for religion here?

Stanza by stanza analysis The frost is going to fasten around them and kill them. It will kill the soil (nature) and them too. His – religious connotation. Tonight, His frost will fasten on this mud and us, Shrivelling many hands, puckering foreheads crisp. The burying party, picks and shovels in the shaking grasp, half-known faces. All their eyes are ice, But nothingPause over happens. Uncomfortable juxtaposition of burying against party. End the poem the same way the first stanza ended. CYCLICAL STRUCTURE. NEVER ESCAPE. NEVER FIND A PURPOSE OF WAR. Metaphor – saying something is something else. Their eyes are ice.