Looking back at war; some words that come to mind might include: horrible, cruel, unnecessary or scary, but Pope describes it as being a game. “turn to himself in the show? And who wants a seat in the stands” (Pope, Who’s for the game?) The poem is asking the reader if they want to fight for their country or sit on the sidelines and watch. Pope uses the word “show” as if they are presenting the war to people; this poem completely disregards war as a dangerous place or time.
Who knows it won’t be a picnic- not much-
Yet eagerly shoulders a gun
Who would rather come back with a crutch
Than lie low and be out of the fun (Pope, Who’s for the game)
When Pope is writing the poem she is consistent with her structure; using ABAB. ABAB is when the first and third line rhyme and the second and fourth line rhymes; in the quote above you can see that “much” and “crutch” rhymes along with “gun” and “fun” rhyming. Pope uses this technique to persuade the reader into believing that war is just a game. Pope’s use of enhancement throughout the poem is used in many instances to convince the reader to join the army. “who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?” (Pope, Who’s for the game?) She uses question marks to consistently ask the reader to become a soldier. Jessie Pope was a woman; women during that time period didn’t have much power and were seen as weak. Maybe she was getting the men to go to war because she didn’t like men; she wanted them to go to war to die. This relates back to when the British empire were trying to get soldiers to fight for them against the triple alliance. This poem convinced many men into fighting for their country; getting themselves into something they might not have signed up for.
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