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- Pope’s work was popular and published in its day due to the patriotism with which she wrote. During Pope’s life, tensions in Europe mounted, and World War One broke out. Pope’s passion for England and her sense of duty spurred on her verse, which was used as propaganda material to encourage young men to enlist in the army.
thinklit.co.uk/whos-for-the-game-jessie-pope/
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Pope is perhaps best known—and indeed most vilified—for her patriotic poetry of the First World War. Published from 1914 onwards in newspapers like the Daily Mail, her verse was later collected in the volumes Jessie Pope's War Poems (1915), More War Poems (1915), and Simple Rhymes for Stirring Times (1916), as well as in charity gift-books ...
Pope's war poetry was originally published in The Daily Mail; it encouraged enlistment and the handing of a white feather to youths who would not join the colours.
Pope’s war poetry was originally published in The Daily Mail and largely consisted of simple rhythms and rhyme schemes with extensive use of rhetorical questions to persuade young men to join the war, leading Wilfred Owen to direct his 1917 poem Dulce et Decorum est to her.
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‘Who’s for the Game?’ by Jessie Pope is a direct poem in which the speakerencourages men to join the military and fight in WWI. The speaker directly addresses the young men of her country, trying to goad them into showing their strength and bravery by joining the armed forces. She refers to war as a “game,” one that’s important for them to particip...
The most obvious themes at work in ‘Who’s for the Game?’ are war and bravery. The speaker is promoting the latter in the face of the former. By suggesting that war is just a game, a dangerous cliche, and idealization, the poet is trying to encourage men to put aside their fear and fight for their country even if they get injured. There is no mentio...
‘Who’s for the Game?’ by Jessie Pope is a seventeen (sometimes sixteen depending on the version) line poem that is contained within one stanza. Despite this, the poem is often (and easily) separated out into quatrains, or sets of four lines. Some publishers connect lines thirteen and fourteen into one long line. The poem follows a simple rhyme sche...
Pope makes use of several literary devices in‘Who’s for the Game?’ These include but are not limited to allusion, caesura, and anaphora. The latter is a type of repetitionthat’s focused on the first words in a line. For example, “Who’ll,” which starts lines three, four, and five, and “Who,” which starts lines seven, nine, and eleven. The repetition...
Lines 1-4
In the first four lines of ‘Who’s for the Game?’ the speaker begins with the line that later came to be used as the title of the poem. She refers to a “game,” meaning war, that’s the biggest that’s ever played. She describes it as though it’s something to be lusted after and pursued. It’s the “red crashing game of a fight.” In these lines, she’s trying to appeal to a male reader’s natural desire to test themselves against other men and prove their bravery. She repetitively uses the word “Who”...
Lines 5-12
The following lines are quite straightforward without any room for interpretation. The speaker asks who’s going to risk their lives for their country and participate in the war, which she continues to call a game. She makes references to “the stand,” as if the “game” has an audiencewhile also suggesting that it’s going to be “fun” even if one comes back with a crutch. It is hard to read these lines without feeling as though they are propagandistic or at the very least, a complete idealization...
Lines 13-17
The poem ends as one might expect, with one more call out to the young men of the country to fight in the war.In some versions, the thirteenth and fourteenth lines are combined together. It is hard not to read this poem and consider how untrue Pope’s words were. This is something that has inspired a great deal of criticism and might lead readers to wonder if Pope believed the things she was writing or was seeking to channel a specific attitude, thinking she was genuinely helping.
Readers who enjoyed ‘Who’s for the Game?’ should also consider reading some other war-time poems. For example: 1. ‘To Any Dead Officer’by Siegfried Sassoon – focuses on the lives of officers serving in WWI and what it was like for them in the trenches. 2. ‘Spring Offensive’by Wilfred Owen – a stark anti-war poem in which Owen portrays a group of so...
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- October 9, 1995
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"Who's for the Game" was written by the British poet Jessie Pope (1868-1941). Though it falls into the general category of First World War poetry, the poem doesn't deal directly with the experience of war.
Her posthumous reputation, however, rests on the patriotic verses she wrote during World War I. Originally published in the Daily Mail and other papers, Pope collected her war poems into books such as Jessie Pope’s War Poems (1915), More War Poems (1915), and Simply Rhymes for Stirring Times (1916). Glorifying combat, exhorting men to fight ...
Nov 12, 2023 · Pope's poetry, which glorified the concept of war without acknowledging its grim reality, touched a nerve with some combatants, including a British army officer named Wilfred Owen. During the summer of 1917, Owen was admitted to a military hospital in Edinburgh, suffering from shell shock.
