Phrase
All their eyes are ice.
Analysis
The ending of the poem ”all their eyes are ice” is very
powerful and carries many connotations and thoughts.
The singular word ice has a lot of meaning in many differ-
ent senses for example, the word ice means to be cold
hearted, or emotionless like a robot— again dehumanis-
ing the participants of war. Ice can also be painful, when
‘exposed’ to it, pain that isn’t often visible like the emo-
tional trauma often discovered in war. The quote gives a
sense that death is fast approaching for them, or that
they are dead.
Eyes are commonly referred to as the gateway to the
soul, if their eyes were made of ice it would make them
demons, like the devil fighting against God. So henceforth
Wilfred Owen is trying to convey a message that the men
are being transformed into sub-humans, and that the en-
tire war is not only pointless but of the devils work.
In the poem ‘O what is that sound’ it ends in a very simi-
lar way with the quotation, ‘and their eyes are burning’.
Where Owen’s soldiers are frozen out of existence and
society, Auden’s aggressors are full of fire and ill intent.
They convey a sense of immediate danger and physical
harm. But both really show the mental suffering of those
involved. For Owen, that is the men facing cold and death
constantly, becoming less human as they go on. For Au-
den, it is the aggressors whipped into a frenzy over an
unspecified crime, and the fear and abandonment that it
creates in those they attack.
James and Alex
Analysing Exposure—language and links
Phrase “Pale flakes with fingering stealth”
Analysis
Wilfred Owen uses alliteration to emphasise the reality of war and inform the reader of the
effect it has on a soldier. The sounds “Pale flakes with fingering stealth” gives an idea of how
“snow-dazed” the soldiers where; and how mentally straining it was to concentrate for long
amounts of time. A particularly good word is “stealth” – it highlights how hard it was for the
soldiers to make sense of anything, whilst still being ambiguous: the identity of the real ene-
my. Owen personifies the weather to bring it to the reader’s attention; ironically, humanis-
ing the weather shows that the weather is dehumanising the actual humans.
Dylan and Alex M
Phrase Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces.
Analysis
The word stealth has connotations with war, and suggesting the snow is one of
the combatants in the war. Consequently it creates a chilling fear of paranoia in
the reader, a fear that the men are being spied/stalked. Owen creates a sense of
fear of something (The flakes) when for most people they are tiny flakes floating
harmlessly down to earth. This links back to paranoia and a fear of everything in
the situation of war. The feeling links with the poem O What Is That Sound, with
the sense of being chased/followed, of someone (The enemy?) coming to cap-
ture you. Owen starts the poem with a metaphor that sets the tone, describing
“The merciless iced east winds that knive us…” It is adding evil personification to
nature. It captures a sense of fear for the cold elements of nature.
Mike and Ali
Phrase “Slowly our ghosts drag home” Phrase ‘Slowly our ghosts drag home:’

Analysis
Wilfred Owen’s use for this phrase is to show the reader the despair in the soldiers on the
front line, and that there is no hope for them. Therefore presenting the idea that there is no
point in the men to even go to war as there have lost before the war has even begun, even if
they do come back there spirit will be lost at war and they will never be the same again. This
creates a feeling of disappointment in the reader as they realise that for many of these men,
will not come back even though they so readily signed on, with the disappointment in the
reader being aimed at the state who lied to these men and expose them to these conditions,
allow them to die, and just wait for the next bunch of recruits to carry on the fight. This is
enforced by the use of “ghosts” and “drag” as these symbolises that these men are only a
shadow of there former selves and in war their “ghosts” symbolises their soul, which has
been “dragged” and separated from their physical form, dehumanising themselves in the pro-
cess. This shows the complexity of what Wilfred Owen wants the reader to understand, that
the war had no victors, only losers as the men who returned were different from when they
went off to a world of conflict, almost like hell where their souls were dragged away by “the
devil” and despite returning home are still in a world of torment and despair, as everyday
they are reminded of the terrible events of the war. This links to “all their eyes are ice” - this
shows the men as dormant with all the passion for their country, and life in general has been
destroyed by war as their friends have been killed in action and they feel as if they have noth-
ing to live for anymore, dehumanising them. W.H.Auden also does this but with a directly
contrasting phrase. “their eyes are burning” shows they soldiers who have come for person A
in the poem as relentless and will stop at nothing to get them, diminishing all hope within
person A, also if they are a woman there is a chance they could be raped which also dehu-
manises them as an individual, and shows them as more of a tool or object— a pawn in an-
other person’s games. Tom R and Max
Analysis
Wilfred Owen uses this phrase to great effect by showing the loss
of life in World War 1. The word “drag” shows the brutality of
war and the pain and suffering the soldiers went through– even
their ghosts do not want to be in the trenches. This gives the
reader the idea that their ongoing suffering is worse than death,
and builds an emotional reaction in the reader.
Rohan and Joel
Phrase ‘Twitching agonies of men among its brambles’
Analysis
The ‘brambles’ it refers to is describing a tool as war almost as a
bush, like in August 6, 1945 where Alison fell describes the
effects of the atomic blast on the ‘Rhododendron’, turning it
from a colourful flower to “hot white”. Where Fell shows the
effect of the war on nature—destroying, incinerating, not cre-
ating a pure white—Owen mixes up the war with nature. It’s as
if the barbed wire is a natural thing—dangerous, but natural. t is
more likely, though, that Owen is using the everyday, the mun-
dane, to show what life is like. The reader sees that “nothing
happens” throughout the poem, but the “twitching agonies” are
happening—it is just that it has become normal.Matt and Ali H

Phrase “Wearied we keep awake as the night is silent.”

Owen plays with the reader’s expectation of what war is like. Silence is supposed to be reassuring of your safety, but for the soldiers it brings fear
of an imminent attack, building a sense of paranoia in the soldiers, and our fear for them as readers. The natural order has been reversed, and the effect
this line would have on the reader is to create a shock oat the effects of the war. The sleepless suffering is emphasised by the slowing effect of the alliterat-
ed Ws, emphasising the weariness of the men. They are fed up, and at the end of their tether. Zak and Connor