Explore the way Nature is effective in Wilfred Owen's Exposure

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Wilfred Owen

...'rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.'

...'blossoms trickling where the blackbird fusses...'

Discuss ways in which Owen presents the world of nature in 'Exposure'.

In your answer, explore the effects of language, imagery and verse form, and consider how this poem relates to other poems by Owen you have studied.

Owen is a rebellious poet he goes against blank verse by including a rhyming scheme within his work furthermore, his poetry is distinctive as it does not express beauty only if it is used ironically. Instead his poetry is about the pity of war in a preface for one of his poetry collections he had written 'that the pity is war and the poetry is within the pity'. The response to Owens's work was mostly negative by poets that tended to focus more on issues of beauty they did not understand why Owen would use pararyhmes when, it creates a distorted musical element. Owen also went against the romantics' use of pathetic fallacy which describes there being a connection between nature and human emotions. He describes nature as being hostile and describes that war is unnatural in numerous of his poems such as: Exposure, The Sentry, The Show, Futility and Apologia Pro Poemate Meo.

Exposure originates from Owens's letter he wrote home to his mother on the 4th February 1917. In this letter he described his manoeuvres in icy weather. The poem was originally named Nothing happens as described during the course of the poem the soldiers are described as waiting for death either, from a sudden attack from the Germans or from the hostility from the weather. The word Exposure could represent the soldiers being over exposed to elements of nature, death and the futility of war.

Exposure is structured into a romantic quatrain but, has been modified to create a repetitive cycle of nature which, gives an indication that while the soldiers are dying nature is continuing. The poem has form of a threnody(musical element) which is used to express sorrow however, nothing happens in this poem therefore this is a ballad about nothing. The other poems which have a musical element are: 'Anthem For Doomed Youth , 'Arms and the Boy' and 'Futility'.
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Anthem For Doomed Youth is structured as petrachan sonnet which consists of 14 lines this restricted structure is used to compress ideas and creates tension. This poem can also be interpreted as a lyric by the word 'Anthem' we can mistaken this poem as song of praise when, in fact it is expresses death. Arms and the Boy is structured into three quatrains and takes the form of lyric. This poem is an anthem against propaganda explaining what will happen to the nature of the boys during the course of war. Futility has the length of a sonnet ...

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