exposure by wilfred owen describes the poet's world war one experience in trench warfare in the opening stanza the poet explains how the soldiers brains are aching in the freezing cold wind that is hitting them they're tired but have to stay awake on watch flares flying through the air confuse their memories of the position they're in they're worried by the lack of sound they whisper they're scared but nothing happens much of the poem follows this format until the poet begins to question the point of it all ultimately owen determines that the soldiers are there because they believe that going to war is the only way to ensure that a loving domestic life will continue their children will also continue to be brought up happy healthy and protected let me just point out this video is a quick recap of the poem to learn more watch my full analysis which i'll link at the end wilfred owen was born in 1893 joined the british army in 1915 and died in battle on november the 4th 1918. he originally pursued a career in the church but gave up on that when he felt that the church failed to care for those in its locality owens poetry often focused on the futility or pointlessness of war as part of this presentation of war as futile owen wants readers to understand the intensity of waiting during battle and the anticlimactic letdown that comes when nothing happens soldiers lived on adrenaline for long periods of time resulting in shell shock and combat stress reaction it's not just that nothing happened it's that the soldiers were on full alert with heightened senses knowing that something could have happened at any moment to represent this owen structures each stanza in the same way we'll look closely at stanza one as an example each stanza begins with a blunt and powerful sentence our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knife us these opening sentences are then followed by highly emotive vocabulary choices wearied low drooping confused worried curious and nervous crucially after dramatically heightening the tension each stanza ends with an anti-climax but nothing happens this three-part structure is found in each stanza the rhyme scheme is a b b a c the way in which the first four lines establish a rhyme pattern only for it to be broken down in the final line reflects the building momentum and anticipation of battle which is never realized the rhyme scheme stays this way throughout the whole poem with its repetitive nature reflecting the repetitive and futile situation the soldiers are in just as the poem stays the same so does the situation for the soldiers they are stuck in the cold waiting the poet employs what is known as pararhyme this is where two end of line words contain the same consonant sounds but not the same vowels consider the only four lines which you can see here on screen we can see that nivis is a paradigm with nervous the consonant sounds are the same even though the vowel sounds i and er are different the use of para rhyme gives a permanent sense of being nervously on edge the soldiers are denied the satisfaction of full rhyme forced to be incomplete and imperfect the perfection and closure of full rhyme is denied them owen uses personification to highlight how weather is more dangerous than the less deadly bullets there are numerous examples of this winds that knives mad gusts dawn massing in the east her melancholy army air that shudders pale flakes with fingering stealth this overwhelming use of personification presents the notion that nature is more deadly than the enemy soldiers clearly there is very little difference to the soldiers between the weather and the enemy forces both are killing them the ending of the poem is important having established in the penultimate verse that the soldiers see themselves as a necessary sacrifice to save the happy lives of the public the poem ends with the contrasting but nothing happens structurally the poem ends as it began with this refrain but nothing happens and this repetition of ending creates a cyclical structure the poem ends up back where it started highlighting again the futility of war with that in mind which poems compare well with exposure well the futility of war is seen in bayonet charge in the charge of the light brigade and for the reality of war we might add remains and war photographer but which other poems would you compare with exposure put a comment in the comment section for more on this poem pick up a copy of mr bruff's guide to power on conflict poetry available exclusively in ebook form at mrbruff.com and it's linked in the description if you like this shorter style of analysis video do give it a thumbs up and i'll make some more but remember this video isn't intended to tell you everything you need to know about the poem it's a recap for revision purposes for the full lesson check out the video linked here on screen