Both poems Exposure by Owen and Bayonet Charge by Hughes are similar in their negativity towards war.

They
reflect on the reality of war by offering vivid imagery relating to soldiers in conflict, use time and weather as motifs
to show suffering and explore a sense of fear to reflect on the bleak reality of war for soldiers.

Exposure and Bayonet Charge use vivid imagery when they reflect on how brutal war catually is. For example;
personification of the weather in “merciless east iced winds that knive us” suggests the impact of the terrible
conditions on the men is like being stabbed, which is a horrific reality in war. Men on the front line were not only
being subjected to barrages from enemy artillery fire but also weather is being shows as the enemy too. This seems
ironic and unjust as these men are already living in the trenches in inhumane conditions. However, the vivid imagery
in Bayonet Charge is dis-similar in many ways as it is shown through the plethora of verbs used “Suddenly he awoke
and was running” showing the soldier either in fear of his life awakening from an actual real slumber or due to the
enemy fire metaphorically he has awoken to the reality of his situation and realises he is running towards danger,
instead of away from it, which is anti-human nature. The fight or flight response in his body would have been
charging through him and further verbs “stumbling” and “rolling” are used to reflect how vivid the actions are that
take place and also directly contrast the silence and oppression that takes place in Exposure. The connective in “But
nothing happens” reinforces this terrible waiting game and again vivid imagery is shown through the inaction versus
the action in both poems. Hughes poem, while set directly on the battlefield, is his imagining what it would be like,
whereas Owen actually physically experienced the horrific, tragic reality of war, Hughes in contrast was safe and
reflecting on stories he heard from family as a young boy. Perhaps, this makes it more engaging that Hughes
captures the sheer panic of a “Bayonet Charge” so vividly, while Owen shows the harsh truth of was as a waiting
game between battles, something he was very aware of due to his experience as a soldier.

Further to this grim depiction using imagery, time and weather are recurring motifs in both poems. Pathetic Fallacy
and personification is used in “mad gusts tugging on the wire” to imply that the wind is blowing furiously and is really
angry, increasing the sympathy for the men in the trenches as we know the barbed wire is the “wire” referenced by
Owen as a deliberate marker of where they are. Furthermore, connotations of “mad” are insanity, craziness and
being on the edge and the wind appears to be in a fury, which could link to the madness that infected many soldiers
during and after the war. The madness I refer to is what we now understand to be Post traumatic Stress disorder,
but which at the time of the war was widely misunderstood. Men suffered extreme trauma and the “mad” winds
that are reflected in the negativity of the “misery of dawn” which is often a time of peacefulness and joy but here is
juxtaposed with “misery” suggests that nothing is positive or hopeful. “Rain soaks” and “clouds sag stormy” and
“shivering ranks of grey” are all depictions which effectively reinforce the suffering of the men as once they are wet,
they have nowhere to get dry: the noun “Rain” effectively demonstrates this. This weather is a repeated motif in
Exposure and Bayonet Charge doesn’t use the horror of the weather in this way, but does use time as a motif
instead, the metaphoric questioning in “what cold clockwork of the stars and nations Was he the hand pointing that
second?” almost shows that the soldier believes his fate has brought him here but that this doesn’t seem right or
okay. It is almost as if he was in the wrong time at the wrong place, which although depicted differently in Exposure
is a similar feeling that is expressed. Both soldiers in Bayonet Charge and Exposure, seem to recognise that humanity
has failed in their duty and that fate has caused them to suffer in the extreme during the war. Hughes expresses this
failure in the first-person perspective from one soldier view, while Owen seems to reflect collectively on the
experience of war. Perhaps, Owen’s depiction of the collective suffering of men is more realistic due to the vast
swathes of men that died in the war and the fact that they couldn’t get away from each other in the trenches, they
were tightly packed with other men and the rats that lived in there too. Again, the reality of war is presented
through horrific imagery in both poems but the poets elicit sympathy for the men in different ways. The fast-paced
moment in time action in Bayonet Charge versus the never ending cold endured in Exposure.

Finally, a sense of fear is evident in both poems which reflects the reality of war as men would have been terrified,
but in a very British manner, this was not talked about when they came home. Instead men often had a stiff upper lip
attitude towards what they had experienced. The fear is evident in the listing of how the soldiers are reacting
“silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,” with the caesura reflecting how cautious they are being but also how
much they want to speculate on what is going to happen next. They are clearly waiting in the “misery of dawn” for
the next enemy attack and the silence is juxtaposed with the “dull rumour of some other war” that they can hear in
the distance. This must have been thoroughly un-nerving and nerve-wracking for the men as all they can do is wait
for the next piece of enemy action, while being aware that this is happening near them. In Bayonet Charge, the fear
is shown in the faltering of the soldier who is under fire and inadequately out in the open with his “bayonet” which is
a small knife attached to the end of the gun, more suited to close combat than running in the open towards the
enemy. The simile “his foot hung like Statuary in mid-stride.” Depicts his pause and how this saved his life as the
“yellow hare” was shot at and killed rather than him. This moment of stillness in an otherwise action packed
narrative from the soldiers perspective helps to create the sense of fear the soldier must have had. Both Exposure
and Bayonet Charge have clear evidence of a sense of fear throughout and the most poignant reflection in Bayonet
Charge is the listing of “King, honour, human, dignity, etcetera Dropped like luxuries” show the loss of hope and faith
that the soldier has while in the thick of battle and shows that the idealism and patriotism with which soldiers went
to war was no longer important as the fear during the action had managed to make these ideal superfluous. This
poignancy is also reflected in the loss of hope and faith in Exposure which is extremely similar “For love of God
seems dying” showing with the modality that the soldiers want to retain hope but it is becoming more and more
unlikely. In this way both reflect a sense of fear as without hope it there anything worth living for?

Clearly, Hughes and Owen had different experiences of war and Owen’s real-life experience can account for the
sense of hopelessness and grim reality of the war that is depicted in Exposure. Even the title reflects how out in the
open and exposed the soldiers were, while Hughes shows a deep understanding of the personal effect on the
physical and mental health of a soldier in war, perhaps gleaned from his relatives. The tile Bayonet Charge reflects
the active depiction of the soldier running towards the enemy line with no apparent care for his safety. Both
Exposure and Bayonet Charge are warnings against the folly of mankind going to war as the reality is never
glamourous, never humane and never worth the casualties and it is perhaps this message that future generations
need to take heed of.