Exposure I
Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us . . .Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent . . .Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient . . .Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,But nothing happens.
Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire.Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.Northward incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war.What are we doing here?
The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow . . .We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.Dawn massing in the east her melancholy armyAttacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of gray,But nothing happens.
Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow,With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew,We watch them wandering up and down the wind's nonchalance,But nothing happens.
Words in this poem
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- iced a.
- Covered with ice; chilled with ice; as, iced water.
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- northward a.
- Toward the north; nearer to the north than to the east or west point. [AS. noredhweard.]
- incessantly adv.
- Unceasingly; continually.
- gunnery n.
- That branch of military science which comprehends the theory of projectiles, and the manner of constructing and using ordnance.
- rumour n.
- A flying or popular report; the common talk; hence, public fame; notoriety. [F. rumeur, L. rumor; cf. rumificare, rumitare to rumor, Skr. ru to cry.]
- poignant a.
- Pricking; piercing; sharp; pungent. [F., p. pr. of poindre to sting, fr. L. pungere to prick, sting. See Pungent.]
- sidelong adv.
- Laterally; obliquely; in the direction of the side. [See Sideling, adv.]
- nonchalance n.
- Indifference; carelessness; coolness. [F. See Nonchalant.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Exposure I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1034; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Wilfred Owen, Exposure I, in Poems (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1034, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/owen-poems/exposure-i.html, id L04675.
Form and metre
Exposure I is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.9 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 5% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A--A- usA · silent · salient · nervousA · happens
- 4 A--A- silenceA · snow · renew · nonchalanceA · happens
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us . . . | 13 | /····/˘······ |
| Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent . . . | 13 | /˘··˘/·····/˘ |
| Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient . . . | 13 | ·/˘·˘///˘··/˘ |
| Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, | 13 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| But nothing happens. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire. | 12 | /˘·····/˘··/ |
| Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles. | 12 | ·/˘/˘·····/˘ |
| Northward incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles, | 12 | /˘˘/˘·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Far off, like a dull rumour of some other war. | 12 | ······˘··/˘· |
| What are we doing here? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow . . . | 11 | ·/˘/˘··˘/·· |
| We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy. | 13 | ·/˘········/˘ |
| Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army | 13 | ·/˘····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of gray, | 12 | ˘/·····/˘··· |
| But nothing happens. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence. | 13 | /˘˘/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Less deadly than the air that shudders black with snow, | 12 | ·/˘····/˘··· |
| With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew, | 11 | ·/˘/·····˘/ |
| We watch them wandering up and down the wind's nonchalance, | 13 | ···/˘·····/˘/ |
| But nothing happens. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.