WW1 Poetry Coursework
War poetry conveys a number of different messages, being anti-war, the ideas of chivalry and glamour involved in the fight, and poems trying to recruit young men into the war are all common, especially in WW1. There are many poets from this time who use these ideas a lot in their poetry, I will be looking at five of them in detail, Jessie Pope, Rupert Brooke, Arthur Graeme-West, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.
Who's For the Game? By Jessie Pope is a recruitment poem, aimed at young men, glamorising war to a degree that it classifies it as a big game. There is a recurring theme in the poem of spectators and participants, whilst also using rhetorical questions, 'Who wants a turn to himself in the show?/And who wants a seat in the stand?' would be a very good way to get young men, already surrounded by the propaganda in the newspapers, radio stations, and posters, to sign up into the army. However in the third stanza there is a realisation that war is not 'a game' and that there would be injuries, although it also portrays a 'wounds heal' approach, as there is no mention of possible death, 'Who would much rather come back with a crutch/Than lie low and be out of the fun?'. There is also a great reference to the community of soldiers, British people, 'Your countries up to her neck in a fight/And she's looking and calling for you.' Which also uses personification, to make England look as though it is a 'damsel in distress' who needs rescuing from these young strong men.
War poetry conveys a number of different messages, being anti-war, the ideas of chivalry and glamour involved in the fight, and poems trying to recruit young men into the war are all common, especially in WW1. There are many poets from this time who use these ideas a lot in their poetry, I will be looking at five of them in detail, Jessie Pope, Rupert Brooke, Arthur Graeme-West, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.
Who's For the Game? By Jessie Pope is a recruitment poem, aimed at young men, glamorising war to a degree that it classifies it as a big game. There is a recurring theme in the poem of spectators and participants, whilst also using rhetorical questions, 'Who wants a turn to himself in the show?/And who wants a seat in the stand?' would be a very good way to get young men, already surrounded by the propaganda in the newspapers, radio stations, and posters, to sign up into the army. However in the third stanza there is a realisation that war is not 'a game' and that there would be injuries, although it also portrays a 'wounds heal' approach, as there is no mention of possible death, 'Who would much rather come back with a crutch/Than lie low and be out of the fun?'. There is also a great reference to the community of soldiers, British people, 'Your countries up to her neck in a fight/And she's looking and calling for you.' Which also uses personification, to make England look as though it is a 'damsel in distress' who needs rescuing from these young strong men.
