The poem personifies Death as a fellow soldier that the men have interacted with on the battlefield - eating and drinking with him, smelling his breath, being spat at and coughed on with bullets and shrapnel. Though the interactions are disturbing and confronting, the men do not writhe in courage but rather see Death as a comrade, not an enemy, laughing and leagueing with him. Owen suggests that while the soldiers are told they fight for lives and country, in reality they unknowingly fight in a war for Death himself.

1. The Next War Wilfred Owen

2. 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

3. Starts 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 might mean

5. 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”

7. 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”

9. 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?

11. 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?

13. Our eyes wept, but our courage didn't writhe. Writhe – squirm, wriggle, twist, struggle What does this line mean to you?

15. He's spat at us with bullets and he's coughed Which poem does this relate back to? What is the effect of this?

17. 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.)

19. 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?

21. 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?

23. We laughed at him, we leagued with him, old chum. League – associated Old chum – old friend What is the meaning of this line?

25. No soldier's paid to kick against His powers. Who is represented by “His”? Why the capital for “His”? What does this line suggest?

26. 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.

27. 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. What will the greater war fight against? What does Owen suggest this war is about? How does this link to Dulce Et Decorem Est ?