Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
26 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Our brains ache |
This is a shared, painful experience. |
|
|
In the merciless iced East winds that knive us |
Nature is personified and seems to be attacking them. |
|
|
... |
Ellipsis hint that they're waiting for something to happen - it never does. |
|
|
Confuse... Worried... Curious... Nervous |
Lots of different emotions - another reason why their brains hurt. |
|
|
But nothing happens. |
The short, simple half line emphasises their boredom and tension. |
|
|
Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles. |
The "brambles" of the barbed wire remind us of the pain caused by nature. |
|
|
Flickering gunnery rumbles |
Assonance and onomatopoeia create a vivid aural description. |
|
|
Like dull rumour of some other war. |
This is a Biblical reference to Matthew 24:6, where Jesus foretells the end of the world. He says "you will hear of wars and rumours of wars". |
|
|
What are we doing here? |
Rhetorical question asks what the point of it all is. |
|
|
Dawn massing in the East her melancholy army |
Dawn is personified using the language of battle. Normally dawn brings hope, bit not here. |
|
|
Ranks on shivering ranks |
The description of dawn approving mirrors the soliders in the trenches. |
|
|
Grey |
No color - the battlefield is cold and lifeless. Grey was also the color of the German uniforms, so this aligns nature with the enemy. |
|
|
Sudden successive flights of bullets steal the silence |
Sibilance mimics the whistling sound of bullets flying. |
|
|
Black with snow |
Snow is normally white (symbolising purity), but here it's black (symbolising evil or death) |
|
|
Flowing flakes that flock |
Alliteration emphasises the relentlessness of the snow. |
|
|
Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feelings for our faces |
The snowflakes are personified - they're maliciously seeking the men's faces. |
|
|
Snow-dazed... Sun-dozed |
Half-rhyme creates a link between their current situation and their dreams of the past. |
|
|
Is it that we are dying? |
Another question, possibly answering the first question - they're here to die. |
|
|
Slowly... Ghosts... Home... Glozed |
Assonance of long "oh" sounds makes the imagined journey sound painful. |
|
|
Crusted dark-red jewels |
Fires offer then no warmth - they look like jewels, which are precious but cold. |
|
|
Shutters and doors, all closed: on us the doors are closed |
The caesurae in this stanza creates a division on each line, which reflects how the men are shut out of their homes. This also reflects the soliders' concern that people back home after losing interest in their fate as the war dragged on. |
|
|
Since we believe not otherwise can kind fires burn; nor ever since smile true on child, or field, or fruit. |
Suggests that they believe they're sacraficing themselves in order for life at home to be preserved. |
|
|
For live of good seems dying. |
Could mean that their love of God is disappearing, or that that they feel God's love for them is dying. |
|
|
Shriveling many hands, puckering foreheads crisp. |
Vivid image of what exposure to the cold does to their bodies. |
|
|
All their eyes are ice |
Metaphor refers to the eyes of the living and the dead men - it's a vivid description of how they've been overpowered by nature. It hints that the living men are no longer able to feel any emotion. |
|
|
But nothing happens. |
Final stanza end the same way as the first stanza suggesting that even death doesn't change anything. |
