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Year 10
AQA

Analysing 'Exposure'

I can explore how Owen expresses his feelings about war.

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New
New
Year 10
AQA

Analysing 'Exposure'

I can explore how Owen expresses his feelings about war.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Owen personifies nature as a more brutal enemy than the opposition.
  2. Distorted syntax and imagery is used to reflect the disorientating effects of hypothermia and suffering.
  3. Owen uses the first person collective plurals to show that he is reflecting on the experiences of many soldiers.
  4. Owen subverts seasonal imagery to express hopelessness and nihilism.
  5. Owen emphasises nature's power and criticises the power of those in powerful positions who idealise war.

Common misconception

'Exposure' only depicts the power of nature.

If we look critically, we can identify how Owen criticises and rejects powerful ideas and institutions, like other poets from the anthology.

Keywords

  • Nihilism - a view that all traditional values are unfounded and existence is meaningless

  • Disoriented - confused and unable to think properly

  • Syntax - The ordering of words in a sentence

  • Futile - incapable of producing any useful result; pointless

The explanation phase in LC1 works with the model of the gradual release of responsibility. If students require more scaffolding, offer another teacher model with another quote or another group annotation task before they do their own.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of upsetting content
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
  • Depiction or discussion of mental health issues

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What method is being described here: Giving human characteristics to non-human things?
simile
metaphor
Correct answer: personfication
oxymoron
Q2.
In 'Exposure' what does Owen identify as the main enemy of the soldiers?
Correct answer: nature and harsh weather
enemy fire
wildlife in the trenches
Q3.
Why might Owen have written 'Exposure'?
Correct answer: to highlight the harsh realities of war
to memorialise the soldiers
Correct answer: to criticise the government's propaganda
Q4.
'We', 'us' and 'our' are all examples of...
Correct answer: first personal plural
second person plural
third person plural
Q5.
Complete the quotation from 'Exposure': 'But happens.'
Correct Answer: nothing
Q6.
What does 'futile' mean?
confused and unable to think properly
a view that all traditional values are unfounded
Correct answer: incapable of producing any useful result; pointless

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What method does Owen use in the line: "Our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knive us . . ." taken from 'Exposure'.
pathetic fallacy
Correct answer: personification
metaphor
Q2.
Which quotation taken from 'Exposure' shows us the tediousness of war?
Correct answer: "War lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy"
"Sudden successive flights of bullets"
"ranks on shivering ranks"
Q3.
What is the definition of nihilistic?
incapable of producing any useful result
Correct answer: a view that existence is meaningless
confused and unable to think properly
Q4.
In 'Exposure' what are the soldiers suffering from?
Correct answer: hypothermia
post traumatic stress disorder
Correct answer: sleep deprivation
Q5.
What method does Owen use in 'Exposure' to show the physical effects of the weather and the war on the soldiers?
personfication
Correct answer: distorted syntax
first person collective plural
Q6.
In the poem 'Exposure', Owen the connotations of spring to express his hopelessness.
Correct Answer: subverts