Life in the trenches
"Exposure," like many of Wilfred Owen's poems, is about the experience of warfare. The poem emphasizes the mundane and monotonous nature of life in the trenches. Not only was life on the front lines dangerous for the soldiers, it was also very boring.
Horrors of war
As well as being about everyday life in the trenches, this poem is also about the horrors that the men were exposed to during the First World War.
Owen is known for the shocking imagery he uses to describe the experience of warfare. In this poem, he describes the "mad gusts tugging on the wire, like twitching agonies of men among its brambles." Although Owen's speaker is not in the midst of battle, his reference here suggests that it is always on his mind, perhaps due to its traumatic nature.
Discomfrot
This poem is also about the general discomfort of living in the trenches, from the freezing weather, the sleepless nights, and the terrible living conditions. For example, Owen describes the freezing atmosphere in the following line:
"Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us."
