The Next War Quizzes

The Next War Quiz

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

Religion

Death

War

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

Fight

March

Struggle

Kick
3 To which real-world war does this poem subtly allude?

The Franco-Prussian War

World War II

World War I

The Vietnam War
4 Complete this line: "And ____ wars, where each proud fighter brags"

Faster

Longer

Greater

Bigger
5 Who does the poem's first-person plural "we" refer to?

The antiwar protest movement

The citizens of the United States

The soldiers in the war

The German army
6 Who is the speaker of this poem?

Death

A prisoner of war

A soldier

President Woodrow Wilson
7 From which poem is the epigraph to "The Next War" taken?

"Dulce et Decorum Est"

"A Letter Home"

"My Papa's Waltz"

"In Flanders Fields"
8 Which sounds in the line "Death was never enemy of ours" create assonance?

The "Ou" vowel in "ours"

The "N" consonant

The short "E" vowel

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?

A patriotic stance

A religious stance

An anti-censorship stance

An anti-war stance
11 The speaker describes Death holding a scythe. What does this image allude to?

The European image of the Grim Reaper

The Hindu god Yama

The Irish folkloric figure of the banshee

The Greek deity Thanatos
12 Which object is used metonymically as well as literally in the poem?

Bombs

Flags

Mess-tins

Bullets
13 What do flags symbolize in this poem?

Nationalism

Domestic labor

Masculinity

Surrender
14 Death's breath metaphorically represents which of the following?

Chemical weapons

Alcoholism

Trauma

The economic destruction caused by war
15 Which form does this poem take?

It is a Spenserian sonnet

It is an Italian sonnet

It is an English sonnet

It blends elements of the Italian and English sonnet forms
16 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABCD ABCD ABCD AD

ABABCDCDEFEF GG

ABCAABCA BBAABB

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

Because of pro-war propaganda

Because of the onslaught of communism

Because of humans' tendency towards violence

Because war is necessary to prevent more death
18 The "W" sounds in the line "We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe" are an example of which?

Anaphora

Internal Rhyme

Synecdoche

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

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

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

Flag

Shrink

Writhe
21 Why are the poem's sixth and thirteenth lines distinct?

They are written in a different meter than the other lines

They are end-stopped

They each diverge from the established rhyme scheme

They are enjambed
22 Why is the poem's epigraph an understatement?

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

There is no understatement in the epigraph

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-"

Reached

Strolled

Walked

Risen
24 What best describes the speaker's relationship to Death?

Familiar and intimate

Distant but friendly

Seductive and tempting

Cold and wary
25 What effect is created by the poem's rhyming of "brags" and "flags"?

It equates nationalism with falsehood and jingoism

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

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

It implies that people should feel proud of their country, no matter where they are from

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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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