Summary
English Lit: AQA GCSE Poetry - Power & Conflict, topic 4.1.1
Summary and Context of Exposure
The poem is written from the point of view of a WW1 soldier describing living through the misery, boredom and icy weather conditions during a night in the trenches. The weather is presented as the real enemy of the soldiers.
Title
- The title could refer to the weather that the soldiers are ‘expos[ed]’.
- However, Owen is also “expos[ing]” the harsh, undignified aspects of conflict that are never portrayed in propaganda or poems glorifying war.
Poet
- Wilfred Owen is one of the most well-known WW1 poets who was famously anti-war.
- He fought in the war and this poem is a realistic, unheroic portrayal of fighting.
- Owen went to war on two occasions and was killed on the second.
Key Ideas in Exposure
Owen portrays a soldier freezing in the trenches as he waits for an attack. Through this, he reveals the brutality of war that is less well-publicised. The poem explores the agony of waiting and the pain and suffering inflicted on soldiers by the elements.
Misery in war
- As with other poems by Owen, the poem focuses on aspects of war that are not glamorous.
- Unlike the propaganda materials that focused on the glory, that war would bring to the soldiers and the heroes they would become, this poem reveals the horrific day-to-day misery experienced by those who went to war.
Loss of humanity
- There is a sense that the men lose their humanity and dignity. This is suggested through phrases such as “Slowly, our ghosts drag home” and “we cringe in holes”.
- This depiction is the antithesis (opposite) to images of heroism soldiers would have seen before the war.
Pointlessness of war
- The pointlessness of war is emphasised throughout. The speaker in the poem seems to have lost sight of what he is fighting for.
Weather and boredom
- The weather and boredom are presented as the real enemy of the soldiers.
- The soldiers are anxious and afraid and each new day brings no hope but more misery and despair.
Lasting effects of war
- The speaker hints at the fact that war changes the soldiers irreversibly as they no longer fit in when they return home.
- The negative consequences of war are lasting.
Test yourself on Summary
Which of these are true about Wilfred Owen?
What is presented as the real enemy to the soldiers in Wilfred Owen's Exposure?
What could the title of the poem Exposure refer to?
Who wrote the poem Exposure?
Which of these are key ideas in Exposure?