The Next War
By Wilfred Owen
War’s a joke for me and you,
Wile we know such dreams are true.
– Siegfried SassoonOut there, we’ve walked quite friendly up to Death,-
Sat down and eaten with him, cool and bland,-
Pardoned his spilling mess-tins in our hand.
We’ve sniffed the green thick odour of his breath,-
Our eyes wept, but our courage didn’t writhe.
He’s spat at us with bullets and he’s coughedShrapnel. We chorussed when he sang aloft,
We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe.Oh, Death was never enemy of ours!
We laughed at him, we leagued with him, old chum.
No soldier’s paid to kick against His powers.
We laughed, -knowing that better men would come,
And greater wars: when each proud fighter brags
He wars on Death, for lives; not men, for flags.
Summary of The Next War
- Popularity of “The Next War”: As a war poem “The Next War” by Wilfred Owen, a popular English veteran-cum-poet, is a matchless poetic piece. The poem first appeared in print in 1917 during WWI. Although the war theme resonates throughout the sonnet, its popularity rests on Owen’s uniqueness of the thematic strand of meeting death and familiarity and negotiating with them simultaneously.
- “The Next War” As a Representative of War: The poem opens with a two-line epigraph from Siegfried Sassoon, another pacifist soldierly soul whose disgust toward war became a popular strain at that time. Referring to his trivialization of war, Owen opens his sonnet saying that he and his friends have knowingly or unknowingly walked toward death, sat, chatted, and taken some rest with him. They have become quite familiar with Death as if it is another person breathing with them and still spraying bullets on them, sending them to the other world en masse. In the next stanza, he again calls death apostrophically saying Death has never been their enemy as they have lived with him side by side as a friend. Also, soldiers do not get salaries to fight Death; they knowingly enter the world of war to brag about exploits and keep their flags high but, in fact, such soldiers fight against Death and not against other men for flags.
- Major Themes in “The Next War”: Reality of war, death and false pride over national symbols are three major thematic strands of the poem. The poet beautifully sums up all of them in the epigraphic citation of Sassoon at the beginning of the poem. The rest he has done by presenting death as a persona sitting with them and then sending them to the other world. Owen is of the view that they have lived side by side Death and Death is their friend. He means that every person whether he is a soldier or not is to die but actually, the war is against Death, not flags or for false pride that the people go to war for.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “The Next War”
literary devices are literary tools essential for poetic or prose writing to make the text beautiful and worth reading. The analysis of these devices in the poem as given below shows this fact.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /a/ in “Sat down and eaten with him, cool and bland”, /i/ in “Pardoned his spilling mess-tins in our hand” and the sound of /a/ in “He’s spat at us with bullets and he’s coughed.”
- Alliteration: It is the use of successive consonant sounds in the initials of the successive words such as /w/ in “We whistled while.”
- Anaphora: The poem shows the user of anaphora as the phrase “We laughed” has been repeated in the initial part of verses such as;
We laughed at him, we leagued with him, old chum.
No soldier’s paid to kick against His powers.
We laughed, -knowing that better men would come,
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /w/ in “Out there, we’ve walked quite friendly up to Death”, /p/ and /s/ in “Pardoned his spilling mess-tins in our hand” and the sound of /n/ in “Oh, Death was never enemy of ours!”
- Epigraph: The
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;
No soldier’s paid to kick against His powers.
We laughed, -knowing that better men would come,
And greater wars: when each proud fighter brags
He wars on Death, for lives; not men, for flags.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. The poem shows the use of imagery such as “Sat down and eaten with him, cool and bland”, “We’ve sniffed the green thick odour of his breath” and “He’s spat at us with bullets and he’s coughed.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poem has used the metaphors of Death as a man and scythe as a killing tool.
- Personification: The poet has used personified Death as if it is a person having feelings and emotions of its own.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows the symbols of death and scythe.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “The Next War”
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Poem Type: This is a Petrarchan Sonnet with Octave having eight lines and sestet having six lines as its first and second stanzas show. However, the difference is in the use of epigraphs of Sassoon.
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows the ABBA-ABBA rhyme scheme that is the hallmark of a Petrarchan sonnet.
- Repetition: The poem shows the use of repetition such as “We laughed.” It has stressed the major theme of the triviality of war.
Quotes to be Used
These lines from “The Next War” are relevant for the soldiers to include in the ceremonies when they are going through recruitment and training.
We laughed, -knowing that better men would come,
And greater wars: when each proud fighter brags
He wars on Death, for lives; not men, for flags.