In the same way, the gas surrounded them and killed them slowly • Diction: o In the first stanza, the words are dragged out and slow like, “walked asleep” (line 5) or “deaf to the hoots” (line 7) which shows the exhaustion of the young men o In the second stanza, the pace quickens with words like “grope” (line 9) and “drown” (line 14) and shows the urgency to escape the gas attack. o In the third stanza, words such as “let’s dive” show the despair of the dying boy. This strong word shows how much this boy is suffering. o In the fourth stanza, Owen, for the first time, addresses the reader and uses nightmare imagery to show how fresh this memory is still in his mind. He uses sarcasm and irony in lines 25-28 to ensure that his message about how war is glorified. He knows he is morally correct and wants the reader to know it too. Words such as “children” (line 26) and “desperate” (line 26) are used to show how naive these boys are and how horrible the war is. • Hyperbole: o In the first stanza, when Owen shows how the soldiers slowly lose their senses, such as blindness and deafness, he emphasizes the extent of the war's effect on them.