The Next War Quizzes

The Next War Quiz

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

Nationalism

Religion

Death

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

Struggle

March

Fight

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

The Franco-Prussian War

World War I

World War II

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

Faster

Bigger

Greater

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

The German army

The soldiers in the war

The citizens of the United States

The antiwar protest movement
6 Who is the speaker of this poem?

A prisoner of war

President Woodrow Wilson

A soldier

Death
7 From which poem is the epigraph to "The Next War" taken?

"Dulce et Decorum Est"

"In Flanders Fields"

"My Papa's Waltz"

"A Letter Home"
8 Which sounds in the line "Death was never enemy of ours" create assonance?

The "Ou" vowel in "ours"

The short "E" vowel

The "R" consonant

The "N" consonant
9 What is the poem's meter?

Trochaic pentameter

Iambic hexameter

Spondaic dimeter

Iambic pentameter
10 What stance did Wilfred Owen most likely wish to support in this poem?

An anti-war stance

A religious stance

A patriotic stance

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

The Hindu god Yama

The European image of the Grim Reaper

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

Mess-tins

Bullets

Flags
13 What do flags symbolize in this poem?

Masculinity

Nationalism

Surrender

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

Chemical weapons

Trauma

The economic destruction caused by war

Alcoholism
15 Which form does this poem take?

It is an English sonnet

It blends elements of the Italian and English sonnet forms

It is a Spenserian sonnet

It is an Italian sonnet
16 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABBACDDC EFEFGG

ABCD ABCD ABCD AD

ABABCDCDEFEF GG

ABCAABCA BBAABB
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?

Assonance

Synecdoche

Internal Rhyme

Anaphora
19 What is the poem's central irony?

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

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

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 ____"

Writhe

Shrink

Falter

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

They are end-stopped

They are written in a different meter than the other lines

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 just mean that war is a joke metaphorically—he has actually invented the war for his own amusement

There is no understatement in the epigraph

The speaker doesn't view war as a mere joke, but as a ridiculous and absurd farce
23 Complete this line: "Out there, we've ____ quite friendly up to Death-"

Risen

Walked

Reached

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

Distant but friendly

Familiar and intimate

Seductive and tempting

Cold and wary
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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