Nature as an enemy Bernice Zarb 12th Grade

Owen’s perception of blame is set on morality and the value of life rather than historical facts and occurrences. Nature is Owen’s enemy as it hinders the soldiers as well as makes them suffer more, thus being a factor that could lead to their demise. This uncontrollable force is shown clearly in his poetry as the soldiers suffer from its extremities or indulge in its warm and beauty. This contrast gives the reader a conflict in thought as to its actual importance in the war as its indirect effect could lead to either happiness or regret. Yet, through his poetry, Owen focused more on its hindrance at war and its effects on the soldiers themselves, who had to suffer from the ‘iced east winds’ and thus making war more strenuous than ever before.

In ‘Exposure’, the soldiers are being beaten up by the weather, an enemy more real than the Germans. This crushing weather has left them unable to fight and be free from persecution, leaving them in a state of ‘poignant misery’ with no way out of death and despair. Their wait for death tortures their soul as ‘nothing happens’ in the physical state, yet the mind is on a downhill slope to insanity where ‘all their eyes are ice’. Their sacrifice of greater love for the people around them...