Bysshe Shelley presents nature’s power as gentle but ultimately a power that defeats human power, whereas in Owens in Exposure presents nature’s power also as defeating humans but it is an aggressive, violent, murderous power.

In Ozymandius we are told that the “lone and level sands drift on”, this alliterative l sound is soft and gentle, a contrast to the alliterative plosive b sound of the “boundless and bare” description of Ozymandius (based on the human Pharaoh Ramsees II). The contrasting alliterations highlight the gentleness of nature, and the violent and aggressive nature of the human ruler. However what is important is that the poem (a single stanza) ends with the reference to nature. This ending is significant because it symbolises nature’s finality -  it is nature that remains the constant, not human power which “shatters”. Therefore nature’s power is presented as having permanency and defeats human power as it outlives it. Nature’s power also defeats human power in ‘Exposure’, however it is not a gentle power as “the winds knive us”. This personification of the wind highlights the active power that nature takes in defeating humans. Interestingly the poem is based on WWI and life in the tranches and Owens is highlighting not the conditions suffered due to the human conflict, but rather nature’s conflict and power wrought on man in the trenches, and shows it to be deadly (unlike in Ozymandius). Furthermore the idea of kniving something suggest intent to kill, mame and to break down – in this case the wind (nature) wishes to kill humans.