Will it be so

again?
By: Cecile Day-Lewis
Cecil Day-Lewis
• Cecil Day-Lewis is considered one of the most
prominent poets in the 1930s. He expressed
radical, revolutionary ideas in his poetry and
publicly adopted communist views.

Communism is a political and economic ideology that positions

itself in opposition to liberal democracy and capitalism,
advocating instead a classless system in which the means of
production are owned communally and private property is
nonexistent.
Cecil Day Lewis
• Day Lewis had written poetry since he was six
years old and defined himself as a poet.
• He was profoundly affected by the Great
Depression and believed that communism offered
a compassionate, egalitarian antidote to poverty
and war.
• As well as inspiring active participation in the
Communist Party, war featured in a good deal of
his poetry, including “Will it be so again”.
Read the
poem on page
131
What is the poem about?

“Will it be so again?” questions whether violence and war are an

inevitable part of human nature. The speaker appears disillusioned that
a second war has happened so soon after the First World War. After
pondering whether we are doomed to repeat this gruesome cycle of
war, the speaker warns the lucky ‘living’ not to be complacent as only
their vigilance can prevent it happening again and make the sacrifice of
those who gave their lives for them worthwhile.
 The poem begins with a repetition of the title, but it is presented as a statement. The absence of punctuation makes the
tone of the opening line ambiguous (the speaker could be nostalgic or wishful rather than questioning) and allows the
line to run on to the next.

Will it be so again
That the brave, the gifted are lost from view,
This line is an explanation of the first aspect that the speaker fears: whether ‘the brave’ and ‘the gifted’ will be ‘lost from
view’. The adjective ‘brave’ suggests that the people to whom the Speaker is referring are courageous and willing to risk
their lives to stand against something or someone. It is also the first indication that the speaker is describing soldiers as
these are people who are stereotypically described as brave.

The second adjective ‘gifted’, suggests that the people in question are talented and competent and are useful
contributors in society.

‘lost from view’ is a euphemism for death. This line appears to confirm that the speaker is discussing soldiers and war.
 In the next two lines, the speaker clarifies the second aspect that he fears: whether the ‘empty, scheming men’ will
be allowed to ‘renew’ ‘their lunatic age’.

‘Empty’ suggests that the people to whom the speaker

is referring lack value and sincerity.

These two adjectives

And the empty, scheming men
appear to be
describing politicians ‘Scheming’ suggests that these people are also
as these are people devious and underhanded.
known for being
insincere and making
dishonest deals.
 Are left in peace their lunatic age to renew?

The speaker also suggests that the deaths of the brave soldiers will leave the lunatics ‘in peace’
to manipulate the society again.

The use of the ‘left in peace’ creates a stark contrast that emphasizes the speaker’s disgust. Note the irony in this line – the
soldiers’ deaths create peace that can be abused and exploited by the politicians to oppress and exploit those left alive, and
ultimately, cause another war.
Having articulated his fears, the
speaker ends the opening stanza
by asking whether this will be
allowed to happen ‘again’.

Will it be so again?

The refrain forms a powerful conclusion. It

reiterates and emphasizes the principal
concern of the poem, and asks the reader the
question directly, making them consider it
personally.

Must it be always so
The question subtly shifts from whether
politicians will cause another war to whether
the cycle of exploitation, suffering and war is
an inevitable, inherent part of human life.
The second stanza opens with a provoking
version of the refrain. The speaker asks
whether this cycle of suffering and violence
‘must’ repeat itself ‘always’.
As this question is contemplated, the Speaker
expands on what allows this tragic cycle to
repeat itself.
The use of the euphemism for death ‘to fall and sleep’ suggests how sad and tender the speaker’s feelings are towards
the soldiers. The Speaker seems to be unwilling to describe their fate bluntly. Perhaps he feels unworthy of doing so.

He explains that ‘we’ are ‘too slow’ to stop the ‘usurpers’ alludes to the soldiers
(people who seize power by force), after the ‘best’ have being selected to
‘fall[en]’ represent society as
our champions.
That the best are chosen to fall and sleep
Like seeds, and we too slow
In claiming the earth they quicken, and the old usurpers reap
What they could not sow?

The speaker compares the dead soldiers to ‘seeds’ that ‘quicken’ (rejuvenate) ‘the earth’ of society. This image is
symbolic of potential, hope and the future. Yet, we are too complacent or ‘slow’ to seize this opportunity and the ‘old
usurpers’ or politicians do so instead and begin creating another repressed society that they can exploit.

‘We’ are the descendants of the fallen soldiers and are responsible for allowing the politicians to continue the cycle of
exploitation, suffering and violence.
• The second stanza uses the biblical proverb of ‘reaping what you sow’
to highlight the illegitimacy of the actions of the ‘scheming’ (line 3)
politicians.
• The proverb uses the imagery of a farmer being able to harvest the
crops he has planted to suggest that the actions one takes today will
determine the future outcomes one experiences.

• The imagery in the poem is of someone stealing the farmer’s crops before he
could harvest them. It reinforces the use of the word ‘usurpers’ to describe the
politicians. It is also fitting that the politicians are ‘old’ as this implies that they
have not sacrificed their lives and that they have done this before (their tricks are
long-established and well-known).

• The second stanza also develops the speaker’s portrayal of the soldiers
who are described as ‘the best’ of us or ‘the best’ our society has to offer.
 The speaker asks whether the aftermath of a war has
to be a time of lawlessness or insincere acts. The
speaker is drawing attention to politicians who
The same refrain opens this stanza, but this time attempt to exploit the current living conditions (a
punctuated with a dash. The dash encourages the situation in which there are no laws and people use
reader to pause and prepare to contemplate the force to take what they want, much like animals in a
information that follows. jungle) through their use of insincere handshakes.
Will it be so again –
The jungle code and the hypocrite gesture?
A poppy wreath for the slain
And a cut-throat world of living? that stale imposture
Or must the aftermath of war be a time when the dead
Played on us once again? are given ‘poppy wreath[s]’ and the ‘living’ or survivors
must navigate a ruthless and violent world. In these lines,
The speaker ends the stanza by describing this state of
the speaker draws attention to how the same politicians
affairs as a ‘stale imposture’ (deception) that is being ‘played
make a hypocritical show of honoring the dead by laying
on us’ or used to deceive us ‘once again’. He is implying that
wreaths of poppies on monuments (tokens of
it does not have to be this way – we can prevent this ‘stale’
remembrance) and implies that they do little more than
or phony display from being used to pacify us.
that.

The dash indicates that the
speaker will go into describing
how things were, in the rest
of the stanza
The fourth stanza further develops the speaker’s idea of
the situation to which the years that follow a war
typically lead and whether this outcome is inevitable. It
opens with a variation on the central question asking
whether it need ‘be as before’.
Will it be as before –
By restating the refrain in this manner, the speaker alerts
the reader to the fact that he is describing the specific
events that happened between the First and Second
World Wars.
 The speaker describes it as a period of ‘peace’, but there is no ‘heart or mind’ (no real intention or
political will) to maintain or ‘ensure it’. This line could also be describing the politicians who had ‘no
heart[s] or feelings of compassion and ‘mind[s]’ or intelligence.

As a result, the peace did not last and ‘gutter[ed]’ or spiralled into war. He uses the way the rain falling on a roof
naturally gathers momentum through gravity as it falls along the gutters of a house to describe the way that war is
inevitable if it is not actively prevented. The word ‘guttering’ is also a reference to its slang meaning of a state of
total failure, which aptly creates the image of destruction wreaked by war.
Peace, with no heart or mind to ensure it,
Guttering down to war
Like a libertine to his grave? We should not be surprised: we knew it
Happen before
Simile. He likens this transition to the way a ‘libertine’ (immoral person) hastens his own death (his arrival to
his ‘grave’) by their excessive consumption. The actions of politicians are also aptly likened to a libertine, who is
reckless and his ‘grave’ is symbolic of the results of war.

The speaker counters the possibility of this ‘surpris[ing] us since we have seen it all happen before. Repetition
of the word ‘before’ is used to remind us that this is not a fanciful warning, but a reminder of horrifying events
that have actually happened in the recent years.
The message of the poem is revealed in the last stanza. By using the future tense ‘shall it be so again?’, the
speaker indicates that he is now considering what will happen in the future.

Shall it be so again?
Call not upon the glorious dead

The speaker insists that the ‘living’ (the survivors and their descendants') should not
rely on the memory of the sacrifices made by the soldiers or ‘glorious dead’ to offer
‘witness’ or provide enough evidence to motivate the politicians to ensure peace.
The use of the verb ‘witness’ provokes images of the horrors the soldiers
saw in battle and how their deaths should be all the evidence and proof
needed to stop future wars. Figuratively, the verb is double-edged: while
we, the living, are asking the dead to stare at the politicians to supply the
motivation to ensure peace, the dead are also staring at us and
demanding that we hold the politicians to their ‘promise[s] of peace. The use of the verb ‘nail’ describes how we
should hold our leaders to their ‘promise[s]’ of
peace. Biblical reference of Jesus being nailed
to the cross and reminds the reader of the
suffering and great sacrifice made by each
dead soldier.
To be your witness then.
The living alone can nail to their promise the ones who said
It shall not be so again.

It brings the poem to an abrupt end. The mood of the poem shifts to the imperative and the speaker concludes
by reminding the reader of both the promise made by the politicians after the war, and the fact that the future
is in our hands.
How does structure convey the meaning of
the poem?

Create and answer, as a class, to this question.

How does style convey the poem’s meaning?
Create an answer, as a class, to this question.