Who’s for the Game? it's written to be fun, exciting, or joyful which is what Jessie Pope is trying to portray war to sound like, ignoring the real truth and sacrifices involved in WWI. In the poem Who’s for the Game? war is portrayed to be a fun, engaging, low risk activity almost like a sport. “Who wants a turn to himself in the show? And who wants a seat in the stand?” (Pope) Jessie Pope is asking the people who want to be a part of something great, something that makes them important and who wants to sit on the sides and watch, this influences the men to think of themselves less if they don't go off to war. “Show”, this word is a very important part because a show means something staged or not real but WW1 was very real and took many lives completely going against what Jessie Pope wrote her poem about. “Your country is up to her neck in a fight, And she’s looking and calling for you.” (Pope) The last two lines in the poem envision their country being a woman, in the early 1900’s men were supposed to be the protectors of women so calling the country a female would influence men to fight and protect their country. The poem follows an alternate rhyming scheme which sounds like marching signaling the sound of someone marching off to war in pride, Jessie wrote about how the soldiers were a part of the show while they were a part of something much more. Looking at this poem in a different perspective would have a greater understanding on why men should be the soldier and if they stay home they should be shamed and given the white feather. In the early 1900’s there was a higher influence for men to be masculine than on today's social norms which is shown in the WWI propaganda including this poem.
Work Cited
Pope, Jessie. “Who's for the Game? by Jessie Pope - Famous poems, famous poets.” All Poetry, 1915, https://allpoetry.com/Who%27s-for-the-Game-. Accessed 12 September 2022.
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