Wilfred Owen Exposure Analysis

In the depressed poem “Exposure”, Wilfred Owen through warlike phrases, diction, and imagery describes that death can mutate an individual's natural response to any situation permanently. In the poem, the men that are described are fighting for their lives in a war. The phrase “war lasts” as demonstrated in this sentence illustrates how long aggressions and violence men can endure till death (Owen Stanza 2, Line 4). When someone is fighting in a war, there is always a possibility that they might die, but often times the most terrifying of tragedies are the ones that go unseen. In the Vietnam War, over fifty eight thousand U.S. soldiers died in battle, leaving the other soldiers and the family members of the casualties traumatized. The imagery
statement “dark-red jewels” refers to the amount of the amount of blood that is shed on the battlefield (Owen Stanza 6, Line 2). The soldiers see the blood around them letting them know they are in a war zone. War causes a lot of blood to be shed and many soldiers shed it for the honor of their land. Death normally leads to emotionally scarring the soldiers and the casualties’ families for the rest of their lives. In battle, some soldiers do not die from war related injuries, but rather from natural ailments.
The imagery statement “frost will fasten on mud and us” leads the reader to infer how horrifying the feeling of the frost slowly coating the soldiers must have been (Owen Stanza 8 Line 1). The soldiers are beginning to get frostbite from being outside in the freezing winter for far too long. Many people believe that most deaths of soldiers come from enemy inflicted wounds, but some are not. In the Civil War, 620,000 soldiers died, but of those poor souls that died, two thirds of the soldiers were killed by means not relating to war. The term “ice” refers to the look in the eyes of the soldiers as they saw their fallen comrades (Owen Stanza 8, Line 4). The soldiers are so used to death, they are starting to become used to it. This is also a reference to the elements of nature that the soldiers are constantly struggling against. Soldiers often come home as changed humans from the amount of emotional torture they must endure during their services. When soldiers serve their duties that are similar to prison sentences, they are changed. Physically they will heal, but emotionally, most soldiers will struggle until the end of their
days. Death takes a large toll in these soldiers’ lives since they have to deal with it constantly while serving and even come to the same fate as the other soldiers around them. The fact that death is very common in a soldier's life is very depressing, but that is what they have to endure for our country. Death is an important part of everybody’s lives, but soldiers must deal with this for months or even years while serving and much longer after.