The Next War Quizzes

The Next War Quiz

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

War

Religion

Death

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

Fight

Struggle

March

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

World War I

World War II

The Vietnam War

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

Greater

Longer

Faster

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

The soldiers in the war

The antiwar protest movement

The German army

The citizens of the United States
6 Who is the speaker of this poem?

President Woodrow Wilson

Death

A prisoner of war

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

"A Letter Home"

"In Flanders Fields"

"My Papa's Waltz"

"Dulce et Decorum Est"
8 Which sounds in the line "Death was never enemy of ours" create assonance?

The "Ou" vowel in "ours"

The short "E" vowel

The "N" consonant

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

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic pentameter

Spondaic dimeter

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

An anti-war stance

A patriotic stance

An anti-censorship stance

A religious 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?

Bullets

Flags

Mess-tins

Bombs
13 What do flags symbolize in this poem?

Domestic labor

Nationalism

Masculinity

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

The economic destruction caused by war

Chemical weapons

Alcoholism

Trauma
15 Which form does this poem take?

It blends elements of the Italian and English sonnet forms

It is an English sonnet

It is a Spenserian sonnet

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

ABCAABCA BBAABB

ABABCDCDEFEF GG

ABCD ABCD ABCD AD

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

Because war is necessary to prevent more death

Because of humans' tendency towards violence

Because of the onslaught of communism

Because of pro-war propaganda
18 The "W" sounds in the line "We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe" are an example of which?

Internal Rhyme

Anaphora

Assonance

Synecdoche
19 What is the poem's central irony?

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

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
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 end-stopped

They each diverge from the established rhyme scheme

They are written in a different meter than the other lines
22 Why is the poem's epigraph an understatement?

The speaker doesn't just mean that war is a joke metaphorically—he has actually invented the war for his own amusement

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 find war to be a joke, but actually is happier at war than he is at home
23 Complete this line: "Out there, we've ____ quite friendly up to Death-"

Risen

Strolled

Walked

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

Familiar and intimate

Cold and wary

Distant but friendly

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

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

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

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

It equates nationalism with falsehood and jingoism

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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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