A level war poetry

Heey, i have to do an analysis of the poem who's for the game and iv only written about half a page, anyone have any ideas on what i could write?

Reply 1

FiveFiveSix

15

Funny that, for an 'English lit geek', your spelling and grammar is atrocious.

Hmm. Link me, or post up the poem and I'll see what I can do. Not come across that one, but war poetry is kinda my thing.

Reply 2

English lit geek

OP

yeh i no i can't spell to save my life but all's good coz im on an A at A level. This is the poem, its simple but i can't think of anything else to write;

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?

Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘Go!’?
Who’ll give his country a hand?
Who wants a turn to himself in the show?
And who wants a seat in the stand?

Who knows it won’t be a picnic—not much—
Yet eagerly shoulders a gun?
Who would much rather come back with a crutch
Than lie low and be out of the fun?

Come along, lads— but you’ll come on all right—
For there’s only one course to pursue,
Your country is up to her neck in a fight,
And she’s looking and calling for you.

Reply 3

FiveFiveSix

15

English lit geek

yeh i no i can't spell to save my life but all's good coz im on an A at A level. This is the poem, its simple but i can't think of anything else to write;

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?

Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘Go!’?
Who’ll give his country a hand?
Who wants a turn to himself in the show?
And who wants a seat in the stand?

Who knows it won’t be a picnic—not much—
Yet eagerly shoulders a gun?
Who would much rather come back with a crutch
Than lie low and be out of the fun?

Come along, lads— but you’ll come on all right—
For there’s only one course to pursue,
Your country is up to her neck in a fight,
And she’s looking and calling for you.

Good for you squire. Ok, date, poet, nationality, background info etc?

Could compare it to Vitae Lampada (play up, play up and play the game)
or Jessie Pope's awful dirge (I forget the name, but has lines like 'Will you, my laddie?) Sorry about the memory loss, but I'm in the red-light capital of Thailand, in my air-conditioned room with a beer, and A level seems so far away. No matter, I shall do my best.

Reply 4

Oldspeak

12

English lit geek

yeh i no i can't spell to save my life but all's good coz im on an A at A level. This is the poem, its simple but i can't think of anything else to write;

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?

Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘Go!’?
Who’ll give his country a hand?
Who wants a turn to himself in the show?
And who wants a seat in the stand?

Who knows it won’t be a picnic—not much—
Yet eagerly shoulders a gun?
Who would much rather come back with a crutch
Than lie low and be out of the fun?

Come along, lads— but you’ll come on all right—
For there’s only one course to pursue,
Your country is up to her neck in a fight,
And she’s looking and calling for you.

The central metaphor is obviously that of a game, used to appeal to men's sense of danger and love of sport- shown by 'grip and tackle'. The last line of each verse is related to cowardice and implies that it would be cowardly to 'take a seat in the stand'. it's very euphemistic- the only mention of injury is a crutch and it generally glorifies war. The rhythm is very quick- you're carries along with the momentum, with no room for doubt or questions to enter and the language is simple as it was intended to be read by a wide range of men. Compare the poem with something from Wilfred Owen seeing as Pope and Owen's poems are complete opposites. Infact Owen specifically wrote poems such as 'God! How I hate You' to attack romantic poets.
That's all I can think of right now.

Reply 5

butterfly_girl_5

8

no wonder you cant think of anything

its a shi t poem

Reply 6

loopy_laura

1

What have you written about so far?

Link it to "Dulce et Decorum est" by Wilfred Owen, which was written as a sarcastic response to this poem. In particular, within the last stanza of "Dulce", "my friend" is aimed at Jessie Pope.

Also:

Personification of a country represents British patriotic pride at the time of war.
"Lads" has connotations of youth and comradeship.
Use of rhetoric to draw the reader in.

Hope that helps!

Reply 7

KatieUni08

A few pointers:

1. Notice the use of "fun" "picnic" "show" "fight" and "game" to describe war; use of euphemistic terms to make the war seem like a childhood playground fight rather than a blood-filled and horrific war that it was. Can this link to Pope's gender? She never experienced the war, and so cannot articulate the true horrors of war. Also the time of the poem? It was written before conscription and so the only force England had was based on volunteers, Pope is basically trying to convince more men to join the army and may well have been employed by a newspaper to write these poems

2. Pope uses rhetorical questions. This has two effects, firstly it poses the question in the readers mind and force them to try and come up with a reason why they aren't at war. Secondly, it could suggest that she believes there is only one answer, that they should be fighting.

3. She personifies England as a woman, suggesting vulnerability and that she needs to be protected by men.

A few things I interpreted for the poem when doing my own revision for A2 english lit, you don't have to agree with all the points. Try reading closer into the poem and interpreting the use of certain words in her poems :smile:

For example, the use of "red" in "red crashing game" - do you think it suggests blood and gore, or passion?

x

Reply 8

phillypk1

FiveFiveSix

Good for you squire. Ok, date, poet, nationality, background info etc?

Could compare it to Vitae Lampada (play up, play up and play the game)
or Jessie Pope's awful dirge (I forget the name, but has lines like 'Will you, my laddie?) Sorry about the memory loss, but I'm in the red-light capital of Thailand, in my air-conditioned room with a beer, and A level seems so far away. No matter, I shall do my best.

what on earth are you doing on here then :p:

Reply 9

FiveFiveSix

15

phillypk1

what on earth are you doing on here then :p:

Christ only knows. I'm now in my bar, with a vodka lipo (Thai version of red bull) chatting to the owner. It's 10:50 over here.

**** it, it's happy hour somewhere!

Reply 10

misstercreed

Original post by FiveFiveSix

Funny that, for an 'English lit geek', your spelling and grammar is atrocious.

Hmm. Link me, or post up the poem and I'll see what I can do. Not come across that one, but war poetry is kinda my thing.