The Next War Quizzes

The Next War Quiz

1 Which is NOT a theme of "The Next War"?
War

Religion

Nationalism

Death
2 Complete this line: "No soldier's paid to ____ against his powers."
Kick

Struggle

Fight

March
3 To which real-world war does this poem subtly allude?
The Vietnam War

World War II

The Franco-Prussian War

World War I
4 Complete this line: "And ____ wars, where each proud fighter brags"
Longer

Bigger

Greater

Faster
5 Who does the poem's first-person plural "we" refer to?
The antiwar protest movement

The citizens of the United States

The German army

The soldiers in the war
6 Who is the speaker of this poem?
Death

President Woodrow Wilson

A prisoner of war

A soldier
7 From which poem is the epigraph to "The Next War" taken?
"In Flanders Fields"

"Dulce et Decorum Est"

"A Letter Home"

"My Papa's Waltz"
8 Which sounds in the line "Death was never enemy of ours" create assonance?
The short "E" vowel

The "Ou" vowel in "ours"

The "N" consonant

The "R" consonant
9 What is the poem's meter?
Iambic hexameter

Trochaic pentameter

Iambic pentameter

Spondaic dimeter
10 What stance did Wilfred Owen most likely wish to support in this poem?
An anti-war stance

An anti-censorship stance

A patriotic stance

A religious stance
11 The speaker describes Death holding a scythe. What does this image allude to?
The Greek deity Thanatos

The European image of the Grim Reaper

The Hindu god Yama

The Irish folkloric figure of the banshee
12 Which object is used metonymically as well as literally in the poem?
Bombs

Bullets

Flags

Mess-tins
13 What do flags symbolize in this poem?
Masculinity

Surrender

Nationalism

Domestic labor
14 Death's breath metaphorically represents which of the following?
Chemical weapons

Alcoholism

The economic destruction caused by war

Trauma
15 Which form does this poem take?
It blends elements of the Italian and English sonnet forms

It is a Spenserian sonnet

It is an Italian sonnet

It is an English sonnet
16 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABABCDCDEFEF GG

ABCAABCA BBAABB

ABCD ABCD ABCD AD

ABBACDDC EFEFGG
17 Why, according to the speaker, will a bigger war soon occur?
Because of the onslaught of communism

Because of pro-war propaganda

Because war is necessary to prevent more death

Because of humans' tendency towards violence
18 The "W" sounds in the line "We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe" are an example of which?
Anaphora

Assonance

Internal Rhyme

Synecdoche
19 What is the poem's central irony?
Its surprising assertion that death is not an enemy, but is in fact an ally, during wartime

Its sarcastic repetition of the idea that soldiers should be unpaid volunteers

Its claim that war is actually peaceful, while peace is psychologically violent

The speaker's description of a soldier who is going to die, though the soldier himself does not know
20 Complete this line: "Our eyes wept, but our courage didn't ____"
Falter

Shrink

Writhe

Flag
21 Why are the poem's sixth and thirteenth lines distinct?
They are enjambed

They are written in a different meter than the other lines

They are end-stopped

They each diverge from the established rhyme scheme
22 Why is the poem's epigraph an understatement?
There is no understatement in the epigraph

The speaker doesn't just find war to be a joke, but actually is happier at war than he is at home

The speaker doesn't view war as a mere joke, but as a ridiculous and absurd farce

The speaker doesn't just mean that war is a joke metaphorically—he has actually invented the war for his own amusement
23 Complete this line: "Out there, we've ____ quite friendly up to Death-"
Walked

Reached

Risen

Strolled
24 What best describes the speaker's relationship to Death?
Distant but friendly

Cold and wary

Seductive and tempting

Familiar and intimate
25 What effect is created by the poem's rhyming of "brags" and "flags"?
It implies that people should feel proud of their country, no matter where they are from

It hints that flags of surrender as well as those of victory can be forms of bragging

It equates nationalism with falsehood and jingoism

It suggests that flags and other symbols are impolite and boastful to others

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Study Guide for The Next War

The Next War study guide contains a biography of Wilfred Owen, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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