Literary Devices in Exposure

Owen employs a metaphor in his harrowing description of the dead soldiers. Their eyes are not literally made of ice; however, as the metaphor suggests, their deaths have dehumanized them, rendering their faces barely recognizable. Owen highlights the cruelty of God in allowing them to die in such a pointless manner while also suggesting that the governments that continue warring with each other have also taken the soldiers’ lives—and deaths—for granted.

The repetition of the consonant sound “g” in “ghosts,” “drag,” “glimpsing,” and “glozed” is an example of alliteration, a device in which consonant sounds are repeated in rapid succession in order to emphasize a group of words. Here, it affects the rhythm by emphasizing the slow reluctance of the “ghosts” returning from their out-of-body experience while also developing the disoriented state of mind of the soldiers.

Line twenty-one features assonance, or the repetition of vowel sounds. Here, Owen repeats the long “a” sound in “pale” and “flakes” and the short “i” sound in words “with” and “fingering.” Assonance introduces a sudden musical, whimsical quality, and here it potentially mimics the increasingly delirious mental state of the soldiers as they begin to freeze to death. What's more, the use of alliteration with the repetition of the "f" sound in "fingering," "feeling," "for," and "faces" draws out the image conveyed.

Owen uses personification, or the assignment of human characteristics to nonhuman things, in his depiction of the weather. Personifying the snow and the wind, which in reality would not wander or react with “nonchalance,” suggests that both the wind and the snow are formidable enemies that wield the cold as their weapon.

Lines thirteen and fourteen are enjambed; the thought begins in one line, continues across the line break, and finishes in the subsequent line. Enjambment contrasts with Owen’s use of caesurae and end-stopped lines, because it speeds up the poem’s rhythm, thus creating an anticipation and confusion that possibly reflects the confusion of the soldiers. However, the sense of anticipation is met with only the declaration that, once again, nothing happens.

The adjective “poignant” means distressing or deeply moving, often in a way that inspires emotional intensity. Owen’s word choice indicates the soldiers’ pessimism and weariness at the war and the weather that threaten their lives each day. It becomes clear by the end of the third stanza that the soldiers’ greatest threat is the weather, described through metaphor as the “melancholy army” that approaches in “shivering ranks of grey.”

Owen uses simile, or the comparison of two things using the words “like” or “as,” twice in the second stanza: first, by comparing the sound of wind to the “twitching agonies” of men; second, by comparing the rumbling of far-off gunfire to a sinister forewarning of yet another possible war. Here, the two similes function together to create a third comparison between dying of exposure from the weather and dying from exposure to gunfire on the battlefield.

Line seven is an end-stopped line, or a line that comes to a conclusion with punctuation. Similar to a caesura, an end-stopped line prompts a pause that affects the rhythm of the poem, encouraging the reader to slow down and consider important details. By ending this line with a period, the vivid imagery of the scene and the simile proffered are emphasized; the wind on the wires moves irregularly like the throes of pained soldiers, foreshadowing the soldiers’ deaths.

The last line of the first stanza serves as a refrain, or a repeated line, throughout the poem. By repeating the phrase “But nothing happens” in stanzas three, four, and eight, Owen underscores the bitter irony of soldiers freezing to death while nothing happens—as opposed to dying in a bloody battle, as one might expect.

This line contains sibilance, or the repetition of the consonant “s” sound. When recited aloud, the “s” sound contained in the words “silence,” “sentries,” “whisper,” “curious,” and “nervous” generate a hissing, almost shushing, sound. As a result, sibilance intensifies the poem’s ominous tone while also reinforcing rhythm.

The first line of “Exposure” contains a caesura, a break in a line of verse—in this case, a comma. Owen’s frequent use of caesurae throughout the poem is disruptive; it slows the rhythm in a way that seems to mirror the jarring experience of warfare. Here, the comma emphasizes Owen’s striking imagery, forcing readers to pause on the first line and consider how the speaker introduces the setting and condition of the soldiers.