Man and War

Who’s for the Game” was written by Jessie Pope to encourage young men to fight. This was basically propaganda; it exploited the idea that it was a young man’s duty to go and fight for their country. This is apparent in the first two lines of the poem; the author makes us feel that war is not excruciating pain, but “just a game”...

“Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played”, “The red crashing game of a fight”. These opening lines make us feel that war is a big game, and fighting is just people playing games to enjoy themselves, therefore this portrays the idea of war as being enjoyable, almost like a pastime. When people read this poem it makes them think subconsciously that war is enjoyable. Jessie Pope also promotes patrotism by saying that going to war is “giving your country a hand”. “Who’ll give his a country a hand” she appeals to their passion for fighting their country, over their fear of being killed.
There was such an affinity with patriotism that by reading just this one line would make men join the war because they wanted to help their country. Jessie Pope also feels that war is like a big show and that the people staying at home are merely the audience, and not being part of this show, i.e. not playing a part in leading their country to victory. “Who wants to turn to himself in the show?” and “Who wants a seat in the stand”. Jessie Pope thought of war as a mindless riot and the only motivations for men going to war was to shoot someone and hold a gun, this is shown when she wrote “yet eagerly shoulders a gun”. The writer thinks that men would want to come back with a crutch, or some injury, as this would be their ‘souvenir’ from the war. She thinks that every man would want an injury as evidence of their bravery/suffering, rather than lying in the trenches and being out of the so-called ‘fun’. Jessie Pope also thinks that men who have returned unscathed from war didn’t have any fun; she