Jessie Pope's war poetry was originally published in the 'Daily Mail' - a fairly right-wing newspaper - and was used for recruitment purposes. She was widely published and produced 3 volumes of poetry - "Jessie Pope's War Poems" (1915) "More War Poems" (1915) and "Simple Rhymes for Stirring Times" (1916) Wilfred Owen originally dedicated 'Dulce et Decorum Est' to her, but later changed it to a 'certain Poetess' However she was primarly a light humorist and was described as the "foremost woman humorist" of her day. She also supported the Suffragette movement.
Jessie Pope (18 March 1868 - 14 December 1941) was an English poet, writer and journalist, who remains best known for her patriotic motivational poems published during World War I. Wilfred Owen directed his poem Dulce et Decorum Est at Pope, whose literary reputation has faded into relative obscurity as the works of war poets such as Owen and Siegfried Sassoon has grown. Born in Leicester, she was educated at North London Collegiate School. She was a regular contributor to Punch, The Daily Mail and The Daily Express, also writing for Vanity Fair, Pall Mall Magazine, and the Windsor. Pope's war poetry was originally published in The Daily Mail and focused on encouraging recruitment. Nowadays, this poetry is considered to be jingoistic, consisting of simple rhythms and rhyme schemes, with extensive use of rhetorical questions to persuade (and sometimes pressure) young men to join the war. This extract from Who's for the Game? is typical in style: "Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played, The red crashing game of a fight? Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid? And who thinks he’d rather sit tight?" Other poems, such as The Call (1915) - "Who’s for the trench — Are you, my laddie?" - expressed similar sentiments. Pope was widely published during the war, apart from newspaper publication producing three volumes: Jessie Pope's War Poems (1915), More War Poems (1915) and Simple Rhymes for Stirring Times (1916).
'The Call' by Jessie Pope, repeatedly uses rhetorical questions to evoke a sense of guilt and pressurise those who have not already enlisted for war. Pope's typical positive attitude comes through in her certainty that Britain will win the war; 'When that procession comes,', this could also be seen as arrogance, and that Pope is too eager to sacrifice the lives of young men for the sake of victory. 'The Call' has an ABABCC rhyme scheme. This furthers the upbeat tone of the poem, giving it an almost song like rythm which reiterates the title of the poem 'The Call'. This poem has a very colloquial tone and dialect, typical of Jessie Pope. The word 'laddie' is repeated lots of times, making it more personal therefore potentially having a bigger impact on the reader. There are 3 stanzas, the last 2 lines of each which ask 'who is going to be a coward?' in various different ways; 'who wants to save his skin - / Do you, my laddie?' 'And who'd rather wait a bit - / Would you, my laddie' 'Who'll stand and bite his thumbs - / Will you, my laddie?' This emphasizes the pressurising idea of the poem, drumming a sense of guilt into the reader.
Jessie Popes Poetry from the war was mainly focused on encouraging men to join the war. She often used rhetorical questions to make the men feel pressured. Not only did Pope write poetry but she also went on to write some short novels many of which continued to be about the war and the aftermath.
War Girls – Jessie Pope The main themes of the poem are; recruitment, and the role of women during the war. The repetitive nature of ‘the girl’ shows the variety of jobs the women took on during the war. ‘No longer caged and penned up‘– shows how liberating the war was for some women. Similarly ‘caged and penned up’ gives connotations of animals that are often helpless. The repeated line ‘Till the khaki soldier boys come marching back’ shows how although the women have taken over the men’s jobs, they know it’s only temporary and that when they soldiers return they will stop doing the jobs they are doing. It appears like the women will simply allow this to happen without any opposition. I think the line ‘soldier boys’ is somewhat degrading instead of calling the soldiers men they are called ‘boys’ this could represent the naivety at the time as many of the men had no idea quite how horrific the war was going to be. ‘come marching back’ – suggests that the soldiers are going to have victory showing the jingoistic side to the poem The rhyming is alternate in the poem and then a rhyming couplet, which adds an upbeat pace to the poem making it seem light hearted and cheerful.
Jessie pope was an English poet who is best known for her patriotic, motivational poems during world war 1. Her views were very patriotic and she used a jingoistic approach in her poems in her attempts to persuade, and sometimes pressure men to enlist into the war. Her views met a lot of opposition, mainly from male poets who felt her work was distasteful. This is shown by Wilfred Owen who dedicated ‘Dulce ed Decorum est’ to her. Her poetry had a light hearted approach to war as she refrained from mentioning the horrors of the conflict.
‘The Call’ was her attempt to try and get men to recruit to the war. The repetition of ‘my laddie’ personalises the poem to the reader, making the war feel safe, fun and glorious, and making men more willing to join. ‘The Nuts Birthday’ talks about how the war has changed the soldiers as before hand they all wanted extravagant gifts and afterwards they wanted more useful things. ‘Socks’ talks about how people on the home front remained oblivious to war and distracted their thoughts from the conflict by trying to knit objects for the soldiers. The woman in the poem cannot relax, and the paper boy that arrives at her door startles her. ‘War Girls’ is about women taking up the jobs that men previously had after they leave for the war. It describes them as being ‘strong’, ‘sensible’ and ‘fit’ which is like the soldiers who were in the war
Posted for Fran: Although Pope's poem, 'The Call' is pressuring young men into going to war, which can be seen as insensitive, this poem was written in 1915 when there was still a high level of optimism about war on the homefront. This is shown in the line, 'When the procession comes, banners and rolling drums-' suggesting her opitimism that the war will be over quickly and that the soldiers are needed to win it. Perhaps why this poem seems more insensitive than other poems in the anthology is because Pope had no first-hand experience of war and did not understand it's horror.
However Pope's other poem, 'The Nut's Birthday' shows her understanding towards the suffering soldiers. In this poem we see how things we take for granted , are now a luxury for soldiers. Gilbert is brought untold riches when they send him, 'some candles and a bar of soap' suggesting Pope appreciates what she has at home and the horrid conditions soldiers are living. She also appreciates the hard experience soldiers faced, 'In hard-won Flanders' ditches.' implying she knows the hard work soldiers gave in war, but understood this was necessary for war to be won.
Jessie Pope's original work pre-war consisted of writing for various magazines (e.g Punch, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express) ,humorous verse and children's books. The war,like for many other writers including Owen-who's work in fact greatly influences the view on Pope's poems today, gave Pope a new, unfamiliar and moving subject to write about. As Pope's work pre-war was optimistic she had to adapt her style to fit with war - a rather unoptimized subject. She did this however with her jingoistic feelings. These jingoistic feelings are shown in poems like 'The Nut's Birthday'. Here the once spoilt/hard to please young man changed for the better. His high class tastes of a 'Corot' and 'A little bronze Baccahante' changed for simpler items like 'matches' and 'some thread (like rope). Another poem by Pope- 'The Call' shows optimistic, exciting views on war- 'procession comes', 'rolling drums'. The poem's rhyme also adds a distinctive rhythm which makes the poem more memorable. The poem was written just before conscription as a last push recruitment poem. Pope is also an example of a women who was liberated by the war, her work gained a lot of acclaim, like many at the time (not only just in early war) she shared pro-war views.
Jessie Pope was an English poet born in the city of Leicester. She was educated at the North London Collegiate School. Much of her poetry was concerned with World War I. Having spent the war years in Britain, she never experienced life in the trenches, a limitation which is reflected in her poetry. Primarily a pro-war propagandist, she is often seen as trivialising the war through her use of simple rhyme schemes (similar to those in nursery rhymes) and allusions to sports, games and heroism.
'War Girls' talks about the roles and jobs of women during the war on the home front. Pope opens with 'There's a girl' this is very unspecific and therefore directed at all women, also the use of the word 'girl' is very childish, directly linking to 'Who's for the game?' by Jessie Pope, as the thought of pretend childish games child normally play.
The repeated 'till the khaki soldier boys come marching back' reflects the repetitive nature of war and the thought that the women will not have the jobs forever and soon everything will turn back to normal and women will maintain their 'normal' place in society at the time.
When pope says 'like a man' in the second stanza, it implies that women are not able to do the same job and as well as men. She then goes on to say 'Beats a heart that's soft and warm, Though of canny mother-wit they show no lack' this shows that women are very feminine and all loving and maternal. Therefore when she says 'show no lack' this proves maybe they are not stereotypical.
Jessie Pope was an English poet - most of which were published in the Daily Mail -, writer and journalist, who remains best known for her patriotic motivational poems published during World War I. She also supported the Suffragette movement. Her poetry was focused on encouraging men to join the war and making their country proud. From reading poetry by Jessie Pope we can see that it is jingoistic. Wilfred Owen directed his poem Dulce et Decorum Est at Pope, who then later changed it to a poem directed to a ‘certain poetess’. Included in her poetry she uses many rhetorical questions to causes the men to think about what she is trying to say to them by pressuring them and making them feel guilty, this is typical in her poem ‘The Call’. Popes views on war were very patriotic thus encouraging men much more into enlisting within the war.
Jessie Pope's war poetry was originally published in the 'Daily Mail' - a fairly right-wing newspaper - and was used for recruitment purposes. She was widely published and produced 3 volumes of poetry - "Jessie Pope's War Poems" (1915) "More War Poems" (1915) and "Simple Rhymes for Stirring Times" (1916)
ReplyDeleteWilfred Owen originally dedicated 'Dulce et Decorum Est' to her, but later changed it to a 'certain Poetess'
However she was primarly a light humorist and was described as the "foremost woman humorist" of her day. She also supported the Suffragette movement.
Jessie Pope (18 March 1868 - 14 December 1941) was an English poet, writer and journalist, who remains best known for her patriotic motivational poems published during World War I. Wilfred Owen directed his poem Dulce et Decorum Est at Pope, whose literary reputation has faded into relative obscurity as the works of war poets such as Owen and Siegfried Sassoon has grown.
ReplyDeleteBorn in Leicester, she was educated at North London Collegiate School. She was a regular contributor to Punch, The Daily Mail and The Daily Express, also writing for Vanity Fair, Pall Mall Magazine, and the Windsor.
Pope's war poetry was originally published in The Daily Mail and focused on encouraging recruitment.
Nowadays, this poetry is considered to be jingoistic, consisting of simple rhythms and rhyme schemes, with extensive use of rhetorical questions to persuade (and sometimes pressure) young men to join the war. This extract from Who's for the Game? is typical in style:
"Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played,
The red crashing game of a fight?
Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?
And who thinks he’d rather sit tight?"
Other poems, such as The Call (1915) - "Who’s for the trench — Are you, my laddie?" - expressed similar sentiments. Pope was widely published during the war, apart from newspaper publication producing three volumes: Jessie Pope's War Poems (1915), More War Poems (1915) and Simple Rhymes for Stirring Times (1916).
'The Call' by Jessie Pope, repeatedly uses rhetorical questions to evoke a sense of guilt and pressurise those who have not already enlisted for war.
ReplyDeletePope's typical positive attitude comes through in her certainty that Britain will win the war; 'When that procession comes,', this could also be seen as arrogance, and that Pope is too eager to sacrifice the lives of young men for the sake of victory.
'The Call' has an ABABCC rhyme scheme. This furthers the upbeat tone of the poem, giving it an almost song like rythm which reiterates the title of the poem 'The Call'.
This poem has a very colloquial tone and dialect, typical of Jessie Pope. The word 'laddie' is repeated lots of times, making it more personal therefore potentially having a bigger impact on the reader.
There are 3 stanzas, the last 2 lines of each which ask 'who is going to be a coward?' in various different ways; 'who wants to save his skin - / Do you, my laddie?' 'And who'd rather wait a bit - / Would you, my laddie' 'Who'll stand and bite his thumbs - / Will you, my laddie?' This emphasizes the pressurising idea of the poem, drumming a sense of guilt into the reader.
Jessie Popes Poetry from the war was mainly focused on encouraging men to join the war. She often used rhetorical questions to make the men feel pressured.
ReplyDeleteNot only did Pope write poetry but she also went on to write some short novels many of which continued to be about the war and the aftermath.
War Girls – Jessie Pope
ReplyDeleteThe main themes of the poem are; recruitment, and the role of women during the war.
The repetitive nature of ‘the girl’ shows the variety of jobs the women took on during the war.
‘No longer caged and penned up‘– shows how liberating the war was for some women. Similarly ‘caged and penned up’ gives connotations of animals that are often helpless.
The repeated line ‘Till the khaki soldier boys come marching back’ shows how although the women have taken over the men’s jobs, they know it’s only temporary and that when they soldiers return they will stop doing the jobs they are doing. It appears like the women will simply allow this to happen without any opposition.
I think the line ‘soldier boys’ is somewhat degrading instead of calling the soldiers men they are called ‘boys’ this could represent the naivety at the time as many of the men had no idea quite how horrific the war was going to be.
‘come marching back’ – suggests that the soldiers are going to have victory showing the jingoistic side to the poem
The rhyming is alternate in the poem and then a rhyming couplet, which adds an upbeat pace to the poem making it seem light hearted and cheerful.
Jessie pope was an English poet who is best known for her patriotic, motivational poems during world war 1. Her views were very patriotic and she used a jingoistic approach in her poems in her attempts to persuade, and sometimes pressure men to enlist into the war. Her views met a lot of opposition, mainly from male poets who felt her work was distasteful. This is shown by Wilfred Owen who dedicated ‘Dulce ed Decorum est’ to her. Her poetry had a light hearted approach to war as she refrained from mentioning the horrors of the conflict.
ReplyDelete‘The Call’ was her attempt to try and get men to recruit to the war. The repetition of ‘my laddie’ personalises the poem to the reader, making the war feel safe, fun and glorious, and making men more willing to join. ‘The Nuts Birthday’ talks about how the war has changed the soldiers as before hand they all wanted extravagant gifts and afterwards they wanted more useful things. ‘Socks’ talks about how people on the home front remained oblivious to war and distracted their thoughts from the conflict by trying to knit objects for the soldiers. The woman in the poem cannot relax, and the paper boy that arrives at her door startles her. ‘War Girls’ is about women taking up the jobs that men previously had after they leave for the war. It describes them as being ‘strong’, ‘sensible’ and ‘fit’ which is like the soldiers who were in the war
Posted for Fran:
ReplyDeleteAlthough Pope's poem, 'The Call' is pressuring young men into going to war, which can be seen as insensitive, this poem was written in 1915 when there was still a high level of optimism about war on the homefront. This is shown in the line, 'When the procession comes, banners and rolling drums-' suggesting her opitimism that the war will be over quickly and that the soldiers are needed to win it. Perhaps why this poem seems more insensitive than other poems in the anthology is because Pope had no first-hand experience of war and did not understand it's horror.
However Pope's other poem, 'The Nut's Birthday' shows her understanding towards the suffering soldiers. In this poem we see how things we take for granted , are now a luxury for soldiers. Gilbert is brought untold riches when they send him, 'some candles and a bar of soap' suggesting Pope appreciates what she has at home and the horrid conditions soldiers are living. She also appreciates the hard experience soldiers faced, 'In hard-won Flanders' ditches.' implying she knows the hard work soldiers gave in war, but understood this was necessary for war to be won.
Jessie Pope's original work pre-war consisted of writing for various magazines (e.g Punch, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express) ,humorous verse and children's books. The war,like for many other writers including Owen-who's work in fact greatly influences the view on Pope's poems today, gave Pope a new, unfamiliar and moving subject to write about.
ReplyDeleteAs Pope's work pre-war was optimistic she had to adapt her style to fit with war - a rather unoptimized subject. She did this however with her jingoistic feelings. These jingoistic feelings are shown in poems like 'The Nut's Birthday'. Here the once spoilt/hard to please young man changed for the better. His high class tastes of a 'Corot' and 'A little bronze Baccahante' changed for simpler items like 'matches' and 'some thread (like rope). Another poem by Pope- 'The Call' shows optimistic, exciting views on war- 'procession comes', 'rolling drums'. The poem's rhyme also adds a distinctive rhythm which makes the poem more memorable. The poem was written just before conscription as a last push recruitment poem. Pope is also an example of a women who was liberated by the war, her work gained a lot of acclaim, like many at the time (not only just in early war) she shared pro-war views.
Jessie Pope was an English poet born in the city of Leicester. She was educated at the North London Collegiate School. Much of her poetry was concerned with World War I. Having spent the war years in Britain, she never experienced life in the trenches, a limitation which is reflected in her poetry. Primarily a pro-war propagandist, she is often seen as trivialising the war through her use of simple rhyme schemes (similar to those in nursery rhymes) and allusions to sports, games and heroism.
ReplyDelete'War Girls' talks about the roles and jobs of women during the war on the home front. Pope opens with 'There's a girl' this is very unspecific and therefore directed at all women, also the use of the word 'girl' is very childish, directly linking to 'Who's for the game?' by Jessie Pope, as the thought of pretend childish games child normally play.
ReplyDeleteThe repeated 'till the khaki soldier boys come marching back' reflects the repetitive nature of war and the thought that the women will not have the jobs forever and soon everything will turn back to normal and women will maintain their 'normal' place in society at the time.
When pope says 'like a man' in the second stanza, it implies that women are not able to do the same job and as well as men. She then goes on to say 'Beats a heart that's soft and warm, Though of canny mother-wit they show no lack' this shows that women are very feminine and all loving and maternal. Therefore when she says 'show no lack' this proves maybe they are not stereotypical.
Jessie Pope was an English poet - most of which were published in the Daily Mail -, writer and journalist, who remains best known for her patriotic motivational poems published during World War I. She also supported the Suffragette movement. Her poetry was focused on encouraging men to join the war and making their country proud. From reading poetry by Jessie Pope we can see that it is jingoistic.
ReplyDeleteWilfred Owen directed his poem Dulce et Decorum Est at Pope, who then later changed it to a poem directed to a ‘certain poetess’. Included in her poetry she uses many rhetorical questions to causes the men to think about what she is trying to say to them by pressuring them and making them feel guilty, this is typical in her poem ‘The Call’. Popes views on war were very patriotic thus encouraging men much more into enlisting within the war.
what the seven line on each stanza means???
ReplyDeletethe rhyme scheme of the poem is 'ABABCCCBDBDBDDDBEBEBEEB'
ReplyDelete