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Who's For The Game By Jesse Pope Essay

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Patriotism has been defined as the cultural attraction and devotion to ones homeland. Eager young men lined the streets, waiting for their turn to show their devotion to their country, by signing up for World War 1. As the war progressed, views on Patriotism changed. Different views on patriotism were expressed throughout the war using poetry and media. There was a trending pattern of soldiers who were eager to sign up, egged on by the guilt tripping propaganda spoon fed to them by government controlled media. The war trudged on and soldiers faced the true struggles of war. Realisation hit them, and they started to question whether the lives of their friends and themselves may not be worth defending their country. The popular view of war at the time is reflected in Jesse Pope’s poem ‘Who’s for the Game?’ The strong patriotic views favoured during World War 1 are portrayed in this poem. Jesse Pope was an admired propagandist. She wrote dynamic poems and stories to entrap people into the belief that signing up for the ‘Great’ War was an honour, and a ‘manly’ thing to do. In her well-received poem ‘Who’s for the Game?’ she uses rhetorical questions to make men question why …show more content…

Poetry became a way to deal with the grief and trauma of the war. On the other side of the spectrum, Wilfred Owens poems provided a way to come to terms with the war. Wilfred Owens experience as a British soldier in World War 1, described the true brutality of war. This created contrast to Jesse Pope’s patriotic, propagandist poetry. Today, joining the army, fighting overseas is glorified in the media and heavily encouraged. Even in New Zealand But once soldiers return they are mentally affected by what they have seen and done, sometimes they are left physically disabled, this in turn leads to them being cast aside by

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