Will It Be So Again Flashcards
(13 cards)
Who is the author of the poem ‘Will it be so again’?
Cecil Day-Lewis (1904-1972)
What central theme is explored in ‘Will it be so again’?
The cyclical nature of loss and the return of empty, scheming individuals to power.
Fill in the blank: ‘Will it be so again that the brave, the gifted are lost from _______’
view
What metaphor is used to describe the best individuals in the poem?
Like seeds that fall and sleep.
What do the ‘old usurpers’ reap according to the poem?
What they could not sow.
True or False: The poem suggests that the cycle of war and peace is unexpected.
False
What does the speaker suggest about calling upon the glorious dead?
Do not call upon them to be your witness.
What is the significance of the phrase ‘a poppy wreath for the slain’?
It symbolizes the hypocrisy of honoring the dead while the living face a brutal reality.
Fill in the blank: ‘Shall it be so again? Call not upon the glorious dead to be your _______’
witness
What does the poem imply about the promise of the living?
The living alone can fulfill the promise that it shall not be so again.
What literary devices are present in ‘Will it be so again’?
Metaphor, repetition, and rhetorical questions.
What does the speaker mean by ‘guttering down to war like a libertine to his grave’?
It suggests a descent into chaos and destruction, akin to a reckless life leading to demise.
Fill in the blank: ‘We should not be surprised: we knew it would _______’
happen before
