wilfed owen expressing feelings of war in his poems 'Exposure' and 'Spring Offensive'.

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How does Owen use the seasons and nature to illustrate his feelings about war? Compare his treatment of the natural world in ‘Exposure’ and ‘Spring Offensive’.

Owen signed up to fight in the war in 1915. He thought that war was romantic and heroic but when he was in the front line he realised that it was the exact opposite of what he thought it would be. He uses nature and the natural world to represent this evil place but also in his poetry the natural world is the soldier’s one source of comfort. So in this essay I am going to discuss how Owen portrays the natural world in his poems ‘Spring Offensive’ and ‘Exposure’.

To begin with the tone in ‘Spring Offensive’ changes as the poem progresses. This mimics the mood of the soldiers. Even though the tone changes throughout the poem it is noticeable that the theme of the soldiers not wanting to go into war. Even in the ‘quiet’ moments in the poem the threat of suffering is present. However, the tone in ‘Exposure’ is different to the tone in ‘Spring Offensive’ because the tone in ‘Exposure’ is mainly one of frustration, despair and desolation. This is felt by the soldiers as they wait to go into battle but it appears that that time will never come. Nature adds to the tone in ‘Exposure’ because as they are waiting to go into battle it is the weather that is doing them damage.

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Also the rhythm and rhyme in ‘Spring Offensive’ is a very important part of the poem. It is important because it gives the reader a bigger insight into the poem. When he pairs “last hill” and “stood still” together the repeated ‘ll’ sounds gives the reader the feeling that the journey the soldiers are taking is a long one. When he uses “grass” and “glass” it gives the reader a better idea of the distress the soldiers are feeling through the harsh ‘ss’ sounds. He also uses “together” and “heather” to create pace to show the soldiers’ movement. But, ...

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