Vocabulary in Exposure

The archaic verb “to gloze” means to gloss over or cover with something. The speaker describes the soldiers’ having a collective out-of-body experience, in which their ghosts return home and witness the warmth of dying fires covered with red embers. Owen’s word choice has a double meaning: “to gloze” over something also means to make excuses for or to address a problem too lightly or with unconcern. It is therefore possible that he refers to the tendency for those who remain safely in England to minimize or explain away the extent of suffering endured by those fighting in the war.

The noun “nonchalance” refers to being unconcerned, calm, or disinterested. Owen’s word choice characterizes the wind as being indifferent to its harmful effects, to the suffering that it brings to the waiting soldiers. By the end of the poem, Owen suggests that perhaps it is God who is nonchalant and not the wind because He intended the soldiers to freeze to death.

As it is used here, the noun “salient” offers a couple meanings that are relevant. First, “salient” is a synonym for “important,” “major,” or “significant,” which means that Owen’s speaker says the environment is confusing the soldiers’ ability to remember what is relevant and important to their situation. Second, the noun “salient” also refers to a bulge, an outwardly projecting section of a military line of defense. A salient extends into enemy territory; therefore, the soldiers occupying it are at great risk. The soldiers in this case have withdrawn from the salient for the night and are confusedly watching the “low drooping flares” that flicker from the frontline.