“The Next War”

1. “The Next War”

2. Words… • Are there any words that we are unfamiliar with? • Bantering: • Dominion: • Gangrene: • Mess tins: • Scythe: • Shrapnel: • Writhe:

3. The Story • Form: • Purpose: • Tone: • Characters: • Setting: • Title:

4. Stanza One *As we look at the poem, annotate it in your booklet* War's a joke for me and you,        While we know such dreams are true.          Siegfried Sassoon               

5. Technique: First person Effect: Makes the poem personal, and invites the reader to relate to Owen’s experiences. Out 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. Technique: colloquialisms (aka contractions) Effect: reiterates his casual and friendly attitude towards death. Literal Translation: They lived so close to death that the thunder of the cannons could shake their mess tins and cause them to spill their food. Technique: imagery “out there” Effect: Technique: Tone Effect: the light-hearted tone doesn’t match the subject Death is present, but isn’t an immediate danger.

6. What is death’s breath? 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 coughed Shrapnel. We chorussed when he sang aloft, We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe. The smell of gangrene and rotting bodies. Literal Translation: More likely a reaction to gasses than fear as their courage didn’t fail.

7. 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. Technique: repetition of “laughed” Effect: the incongruity of laughter and death point to how unusual the situation is. Also, it suggests the soldier’s smugness at knowing what war is about better than politicians. Technique: Interjection, “Oh” Effect: communicates passion Owen wants men to war on Death, not each other.

8. Commentary… Instead of shocking his audience with vivid descriptions of the battlefield, he takes a different ironic tone. ‘No,’ he seems to be saying, ‘the soldiers were not afraid of death. They got so used to seeing death all around them that he was like an old friend, and ‘old chum.’ They learned to accept the idea that, at any time, the next minute might be their last. In a desperate situation, where crying wouldn’t help, they laugher and sang to keep their courage up.’