The Next War (poem)

"The Next War" is a poem by Wilfred Owen. It was written in late September 1917, and revised in July 1918. It is no. 160 in The Complete Poems and Fragments. ^[1]

The poem is among those set in the War Requiem of Benjamin Britten.

Content

The poem is in a sonnet form and follows a conventional sonnet structure. It starts out with a quote from Siegfried Sassoon.

War's a joke for me and you,
While we know such dreams are true.

The poem goes on to declare that death is not the enemy and that better men will replace them on the battlefield. It ends with:

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Next War

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.

References

↑ Notes section with history of the poem

External links

Poems by Wilfred Owen

"1914"
"A New Heaven"
"A Terre"
"Anthem for Doomed Youth"
"Apologia Pro Poemate Meo"
"Arms and the Boy"
"As Bronze may be much Beautified"
"Asleep"
"At a Calvary near the Ancre"
"Beauty"
"But I was Looking at the Permanent Stars"
"Conscious"
"Cramped in that Funnelled Hole"
"Disabled"
"Dulce et Decorum est"
"Elegy in April and September"
"Exposure"
"Futility"
"Greater Love"
"Happiness"
"Has Your Soul Sipped?"
"Hospital Barge"
"I Saw His Round Mouth's Crimson"
"Insensibility"
"Inspection"
"Le Christianisme"
"Mental Cases"
"Miners"
"Music"
"S. I. W."
"Schoolmistress"
"Six O'Clock in Princes Street"
"Smile, Smile, Smile"
"Soldier's Dream"
"Sonnet On Seeing a Piece of our Heavy Artillery Brought into Action"
"Spells and Incantations"
"Spring Offensive"
"Strange Meeting"
"The Calls"
"The Chances"
"The Dead-Beat"
"The End"
"The Kind Ghosts"
"The Last Laugh"
"The Letter"
"The Next War"
"The Parable of the Old Man and the Young"
"The Roads Also"
"The Send-off"
"The Sentry"
"The Show"
"The Wrestlers"
"Training"
"Uriconium An Ode"
"Wild with All Regrets"
"With an Identity Disc"

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