Owen’s choice of words in Exposure powerfully, but simply, describes the extremes to which he and his men were exposed for two days. The poem is dominated by words from the semantic field of the weather, most of which are qualified by terms with negative associations: •‘iced east winds’ l.1 •‘mad gusts’ l.6 •‘rain soaks’ l.12 •‘clouds sag stormy’ l.12 •‘Dawn massing in the east’ l.13 •‘ranks of grey’ (cloud) l.14 •‘air .. black with snow’ l.17 •‘flowing flakes’ (snow) l.18 •‘the wind’s nonchalance’ l.19 •‘Pale flakes ‘ (snow) l.21 •‘snow-dazed’ l.22 •‘frost’ l.36 •‘ice’ l.39
Because with bloodborne transmitted diseases there is actual physical contact, whereas with airborne transmitted diseases, it takes a while for contact to be made. Hope this helps.
