The Next WarThe Next War

Wilfred OwenWilfred Owen

Its form may be conventional (sonnet); its content is not.

A Sonnet

8 lines rhyming a b b a a b b a

6 lines with a number of possible rhyming schemes

Starts with a quote from SassoonStarts with a quote from Sassoon

War's a joke for me and you,

Wile we know such dreams are true.

Siegfried Sassoon

On your sheets, write what you think this On your sheets, write what you think this might meanmight mean

Out there, we've walked quite friendly up to Death,-

What does “out there” mean?

Why do you think Owen uses the words “quite friendly”

Sat down and eaten with him, cool and bland,-

Bland – insipid, weak, featureless, ordinary, unappealing

Who/What is “him”?

What is the result of this personification?

Who/what is “cool and bland”

What do you think Owen means by “sat down with him”

Pardoned his spilling mess-tins in our hand.

Again Owen repeats the personification – why?

What do you think “The spilling mess-tins” are?

How confronting is this idea?

We've sniffed the green thick odour of his breath,-

What kind of image is “green thick odour”?

What is smelly breath like?

How much worse the smelly breath of war?

Our eyes wept, but our courage didn't writhe.

Writhe – squirm, wriggle, twist, struggle

What does this line mean to you?

He's spat at us with bullets and he's coughed

Which poem does this relate back to?

What is the effect of this?

Shrapnel. We chorussed when he sang aloft,

Again this is similar to what poem?

What is the effect of the word Shrapnel being on the next line although it is in the same sentence as the previous line? (This is called enjambment.)

We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe.

Where is the alliteration here?

Why do you think Owen used the word “whistled”?

Scythe – tool for cutting, cutting down, slashing the grim reaper holds a sythe

What does the idea “shaved us with his scythe” mean?

Oh, Death was never enemy of ours!

Second stanza of the sonnet

What does Owen mean by this exclamation?

Exclamation – shout, cry, yell, scream

How do I know this is an exclamation?

What is the effect of it being an exclamation?

We laughed at him, we leagued with him, old chum.

League – associated

Old chum – old friend

What is the meaning of this line?

No soldier's paid to kick against His powers.

Who is represented by “His”?

Why the capital for “His”?

What does this line suggest?

The photo above shows the Verdun sector of the Western Front. Millions of exploding artillery shells completely stripped the land down to bare ground. In some places, hilltops ended the war several meters lower in altitude than they were in early 1914. In the middle foreground of this image can be seen three tiny figures moving across the man-made moonscape.

We laughed, -knowing that better men would come,And greater wars: when each proud fighter bragsHe wars on Death, for lives; not men, for flags.

What will the greater war fight against?

What does Owen suggest this war is about?

How does this link to Dulce Et Decorem Est?