World War One Poetry Essay - 1411 Words

World War One Poetry For this assignment I am going to give a detailed consideration of poems from World War 1. I will be looking at poems by Wilfred Owen, Jessie Pope, Rupert Brooke and Siegfried Sassoon. I intend to study the language, imagery and poetic techniques of the poems. I am going to begin with some of the earlier war poetry. These poems were written to encourage young men to join the army. They are patriotic, jingoistic and unrealistic. These were written by poets who had not yet experienced or seen the awfulness of war. I will begin with Whos for game? by Jessie Pope. This poem is full of questions which make it interact well with the reader. The poem starts off with Whos for†¦show more content†¦The poem first appeared in the Daily Mail. The target audience for this poem was young men and the poem encourages them to join the army. The last verse is very patriotic. Come along, lads - but youll come on all right - For theres only one course to persue, Your country is up to her neck in a fight, And shes looking and calling for you. This verse makes the reader think that it is his duty to sign up for the army. Also, in line two the poet is also indicating that joining the war is the only path to take. The poet also uses the phrase: Who would much rather come back with a crutch Than lie low and be out of the fun? This is another comparison. After playing in a football match it is part of the fun to have a graze or cut as a memory of the match. The poet is using the same type of meaning except for the match is a war and the cut is a crutch. This is just another example of the poet comparing war to a game. I do think that the comparisons are valid because the country needed young men to sign up for this army and this was the best way of encouraging them. Next I will study Peace and the Soldier by Rupert Brooke. Peace is a Sonnet. 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