Personification In The Poem Exposure

Even a century long time after his death, Wilfred Owen is still famous for his war poetry written during World War 1. In his poem, Owen uses various language techniques to vividly illustrate the horrendous reality of the war. Hence, he communicates his own anti-war feelings implied beneath his techniques. However, although he is now known as an anti-war poet, for once, he had been a naive boy, who had volunteered to fight in war.

At first, he was thrilled to fight for one’s country. But soon, he started to recognise the brutality and futility of the war. The sceneries were so appalling, that it even challenged his belief in Christianity. In his poem, ‘Exposure’, he uses personification in the line, ‘For love of God seems dying’. Through …show more content…
The futility of war weakened the soldiers and caused frustrations to them.This is shown in the stanza 5, ‘We cringe in holes, back on forgotten dreams and stare, snow-dazed, …… So we drowse, sun dozed,’. The juxtaposition of the words, ‘forgotten’ and ‘dreams’ demonstrate the futility that the soldiers feel about the reality, which is remote from what soldiers had been anticipating from the propaganda. The soldiers had once dreamed of the honour and respect by fight for country. But in reality, their youth was being wasted on the cold, dull battlefield.Their dreams were forgotten and all that left of them were futility. Moreover, the words, such as ‘stare’, ‘dazed’, ‘drowse’, and ‘dozed’, slows down the poem enabling the readers to empathise futility that the soldiers feel. Furthermore, the use of half rhyme gives a sense of dissatisfaction to readers. This enables the readers to empathise the dissatisfaction that soldiers had felt about the fact that they are not being fully compensated for their sacrifice. On another point of view, the use of sibilance of ‘S’ sounds amplifies the descriptions of the monotonous weather. The monotonous weather depicted by Owen strengthens the mood of despair and futility felt by soldiers. Lastly, by referring as ‘we’, rather than ‘they’, Owen indicates that the misery and dissatisfaction is also his own feelings about the war, …show more content…
Through personification, “Memory fingers in their hair of murders”, Owen explores the traumatic anguish that afflicted the soldiers. The activity of fingering hair is customarily perceived as a warm, relaxing memory of childhood, as for when mom fingers through a baby’s hair. Nevertheless, for soldiers at the battle fields, even the peaceful memory can be harmed by the atrocity of the war. Now, the memory of painful, brutal murder fingers their hair, instead of affectionate maternal touch. Additionally, the contrasting concepts of ‘brutal murder’ and ‘peaceful childhood memory’ creates irony and amplifies the brutality of the war. Hence, it makes readers to empathise the wretchedness of