Attitudes in Jesse Pope and Dulce Et Decorum Est
Compare the poets attitude to war in ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘Who’s for the game?’ by Jesse Pope In this essay I will be comparing the poets attitudes to war in ‘Dulce et decorum est’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘Who’s for the game? by Jesse Pope. ‘Dulce et decorum est’ is about the unglamorous reality of trench life, while ‘Who’s for the game?’ is a propaganda poem published in the Daily Mail encouraging young men to join the army. Both have different views and attitudes to war and there poems are quite different. Wilfred Owen’s poem is positive, whilst Jesse Pope’s is positive.
Although both poems are about war they have vastly different attitude to war. Pope’s ‘Who’s for the game?’ encourages young men to join, promotes the positives and makes those who don’t join feel like outsiders. For example the ‘who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?’, which is implying that those who don’t join the war are afraid of the war. This is very effective because they use emasculation to make a man feel like less of a man. Furthermore their family would feel embarrassed and pressured by others who have joined the army. Young men ,during that war, also thought that joining the army would be like an adventure and that they would have a blast. Many people also underestimated the war and assumed that it would all be over by Christmas. On the other hand ‘Dulce et decorum est’ focuses on the negatives aspects like death, war and the harshness of it. In the very first line Owen writes ‘Bent double, like beggars under sacks’ as soon as the reader starts the poem they already know that Owen is strongly denying the concept: ‘Dulce et Decorum est’- that it is sweet and honourable to die for your country. By using that it sets the theme for the rest of the poem, which is about the untold story of trench life.
While ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ is a poem about the reality of war, Pope’s ‘Who’s for the game?’ is promoting the war and portrays it as a game. She uses word and
Although both poems are about war they have vastly different attitude to war. Pope’s ‘Who’s for the game?’ encourages young men to join, promotes the positives and makes those who don’t join feel like outsiders. For example the ‘who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?’, which is implying that those who don’t join the war are afraid of the war. This is very effective because they use emasculation to make a man feel like less of a man. Furthermore their family would feel embarrassed and pressured by others who have joined the army. Young men ,during that war, also thought that joining the army would be like an adventure and that they would have a blast. Many people also underestimated the war and assumed that it would all be over by Christmas. On the other hand ‘Dulce et decorum est’ focuses on the negatives aspects like death, war and the harshness of it. In the very first line Owen writes ‘Bent double, like beggars under sacks’ as soon as the reader starts the poem they already know that Owen is strongly denying the concept: ‘Dulce et Decorum est’- that it is sweet and honourable to die for your country. By using that it sets the theme for the rest of the poem, which is about the untold story of trench life.
While ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ is a poem about the reality of war, Pope’s ‘Who’s for the game?’ is promoting the war and portrays it as a game. She uses word and